Benzinga | Dec 16, 2020 10:07AM EST

Earnings Preview for General Mills

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, December 17. Here is Benzinga's essential guide to General Mills's Q2 earnings report.

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

Earnings and especially earnings per share (EPS) are useful measures of a company's profitability. Total earnings, which is also referred to as net income, equals total revenue minus total expenses. EPS equals to net income divided by the number of shares outstanding.

Earnings And Revenue

Wall Street analysts see General Mills reporting earnings of $0.97 per share on sales of $4.65 billion. General Mills EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.95. Sales were $4.42 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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 2.11% increase in the company's earnings. Sales would be up 5.18% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q1 2020 Q4 2020 Q3 2020 Q2 2019EPS Estimate 0.87 1.06 0.77 0.88EPS Actual 1 1.10 0.77 0.95Revenue Estimate 4.21 B 4.96 B 4.23 B 4.43 BRevenue Actual 4.36 B 5.02 B 4.18 B 4.42 B

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 11.0%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. General Mills is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.