Earnings Preview: Alphabet

Alphabet GOOGL releases its next round of earnings this Tuesday, April 27. Here is Benzinga's essential guide to Alphabet's Q1 earnings report.

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 covering Alphabet modeled for quarterly EPS of $15.7 on revenue of $51.55 billion. Alphabet EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $9.87. Sales were $41.16 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 59.07% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be have grown 25.25% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares of Alphabet are up 86.99%.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Alphabet is scheduled to hold the call at 17:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.