Benzinga | May 19, 2021 10:28AM EDT

Earnings Outlook For Applied Materials

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 Applied Materials modeled for quarterly EPS of $1.51 on revenue of $5.41 billion. Applied Materials reported a per-share profit of $0.89 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $3.96 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.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate, earnings would be up 69.66%. Sales would be up 36.72% from the year-ago period. Applied Materials's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this: Quarter Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Q3 2020 Q2 2020EPS Estimate 1.28 1.17 0.95 0.95EPS Actual 1.39 1.25 1.06 0.89Revenue Estimate 4.97 B 4.60 B 4.18 B 4.15 BRevenue Actual 5.16 B 4.69 B 4.39 B 3.96 B

Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials were trading at $121.81 as of May 18. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 118.39%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Applied Materials is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.