Benzinga | Jul 15, 2021 10:17AM EDT

Kansas City Southern's Earnings Outlook

Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) announces its next round of earnings this Friday, July 16. Here is Benzinga's look at Kansas City Southern's Q2 earnings report.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, And Earnings Per Share?

Earnings and EPS are useful metrics of profitability. Total earnings also known as net income is equal to total revenue minus total expenses. Dividing net income by the total number of shares outstanding yields EPS.

Earnings And Revenue

Kansas City Southern EPS is expected to be around $2.2, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $749.11 million. In the same quarter last year, Kansas City Southern reported EPS of $1.15 on revenue of $547.90 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Wall Street analysts who study this company will publish analyst estimates of revenue and EPS. The averages of all analyst EPS and revenue estimates are called the "consensus estimates"; these consensus estimates can have a significant effect on a company's performance during an earnings release. When a company posts earnings or revenue above or below a consensus estimate, it has posted an "earnings surprise", which can really move a stock depending on the difference between actual and estimated values.

The Wall Street estimate would represent a 91.3% increase in the company's earnings. Sales would be up 36.72% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past: Quarter Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Q3 2020 Q2 2020EPS Estimate 1.94 1.92 1.90 1.15EPS Actual 1.91 1.89 1.96 1.15Revenue Estimate 710.89 M 695.77 M 662.69 M 564.22 MRevenue Actual 706.00 M 693.40 M 659.60 M 547.90 M

Stock Performance

Shares ofKansas City Southern were trading at $267.27 as of July 14. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 65.91%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Kansas City Southern is scheduled to hold the call at 08:45:00 ET and can be accessed here.