Benzinga | Oct 19, 2021 10:40AM EDT

Preview: Discover Financial's Earnings

Discover Financial(NYSE:DFS) is set to give its latest quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, 2021-10-20. Here's what investors need to know before the announcement.

Analysts estimate that Discover Financial will likely report an Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $3.52

Discover Financial bulls will hope to hear the company to announce they've not only beaten that estimate, but also to provide positive guidance, or forecasted growth, for the next quarter.

New investors should note that it is sometimes not an earnings beat or miss that most affects the price of a stock, but the guidance (or forecast).

Past Earnings Performance

Last quarter the company beat on EPS by 48.0%, which was followed by a 1.27 drop in the share price the next day.

Here's a look at Discover Financial's past performance and the resulting price change:

Quarter Q2 2021 Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Q3 2020EPS Estimate 3.75 2.82 2.42 1.53EPS Actual 5.55 5.04 2.59 2.45Revenue Estimate 2.90B 2.77B 2.82B 2.67BRevenue Actual 3.58B 2.79B 2.82B 2.71B

Stock Performance

Shares of Discover Financial were trading at $130.05 as of October 18. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 115.28%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are likely bullish going into this earnings release.

To track all upcoming earnings announcements, click here to use Benzinga Earnings Calendar.