Benzinga | Feb 16, 2021 10:17AM EST

Earnings Outlook for Blucora

On Wednesday, February 17, Blucora (NASDAQ:BCOR) will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for Blucora is included in the following 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

Blucora EPS loss is expected to be around $0.3, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $146.92 million. In the same quarter last year, Blucora reported EPS of $0.1 on revenue of $149.42 million.

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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Wednesday, earnings would be down 200.0%. Sales would be down 1.67% from the same quarter last year. Blucora's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 0.19 0.54 1.59 -0.22EPS Actual 0.31 0.09 0.90 -0.10Revenue Estimate 173.82 M 186.55 M 274.97 M 150.11 MRevenue Actual 175.35 M 161.12 M 263.32 M 149.42 M

Stock Performance

Shares of Blucora were trading at $17.12 as of February 15. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 21.61%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Blucora is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.