Benzinga | Nov 10, 2020 10:05AM EST

Lincoln Educational Servs Earnings Preview

Lincoln Educational Servs (NASDAQ: LINC) unveils its next round of earnings this Wednesday, November 11. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for the earnings announcement.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Analysts expect Lincoln Educational Servs earnings of $0.02 per share. Revenue will likely be around $73.95 million, according to the consensus estimate. In the same quarter last year, Lincoln Educational Servs reported EPS of $0.05 on revenue of $72.59 million.

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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Wednesday, quarterly profit would be down 60.0%. Sales would be have grown 1.87% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020 Q3 2019EPS Estimate -0.14 -0.18 0.39 0.09EPS Actual 0.02 -0.08 0.33 0.05Revenue Estimate 64.17 M 66.60 M 73.15 M 72.30 MRevenue Actual 62.47 M 70.04 M 73.92 M 72.59 M

Stock Performance

Shares of Lincoln Educational Servs were trading at $5.15 as of November 09. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 182.98%. 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. Lincoln Educational Servs is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.