Earnings Preview: NXP Semiconductors

On Monday, February 01, NXP Semiconductors NXPI will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for NXP Semiconductors is included in the following report.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Wall Street analysts see NXP Semiconductors reporting earnings of $2.1 per share on sales of $2.46 billion. In the same quarter last year, NXP Semiconductors announced EPS of $1.98 on revenue of $2.30 billion.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Wall Street analysts who study this company will publish analyst estimates of revenue and EPS. The averages of all analyst EPS and revenue estimates are called the "consensus estimates"; these consensus estimates can have a significant effect on a company's performance during an earnings release. When a company posts earnings or revenue above or below a consensus estimate, it has posted an "earnings surprise", which can really move a stock depending on the difference between actual and estimated values.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 6.06% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be have grown 6.91% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of NXP Semiconductors were trading at $164.33 as of January 28. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 30.74%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. NXP Semiconductors is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.