Benzinga | Jul 27, 2021 11:13AM EDT

Preview: Canadian Pacific Railway's Earnings

Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP) announces its next round of earnings this Wednesday, July 28. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Wednesday's Q2 earnings announcement.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Analysts predict Canadian Pacific Railway will report earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $1.66 billion. Canadian Pacific Railway EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $2.94. Sales were $1.29 billion.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Analysts who cover this company will publish forward-looking estimates of its revenue and EPS each quarter. Averaging together every EPS and revenue prediction that each analyst makes about a company in a quarter yields the "consensus estimates." A company posting earnings or revenue above or below the consensus estimate is known as an "earnings surprise" and may move the stock by a considerable margin.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 72.11% decrease in the company's earnings. Revenue would be up 28.38% from the year-ago period. Canadian Pacific Railway's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this: Quarter Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Q3 2020 Q2 2020EPS Estimate 3.47 3.94 3.23 2.77EPS Actual 3.54 3.90 3.09 2.94Revenue Estimate 1.59 B 1.63 B 1.41 B 1.29 BRevenue Actual 1.55 B 1.55 B 1.40 B 1.29 B

Want Real-Time Earnings Calendar Updates?

Benzinga consistently updates its earnings calendars to stay up-to-date with the latest company earnings reports. Check out the full earnings calendar list updated in real-time by following this link.

Stock Performance

Shares of Canadian Pacific Railway were trading at $72.91 as of July 26. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 28.93%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably happy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Canadian Pacific Railway is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.