S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Baxter International, Inc. (NYSE:BAX) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, January 26, 2012. Baxter International is a company that develops and manufactures healthcare products that save and sustain the lives of people with chronic, acute illnesses.

Baxter International, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet.

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $1.16 per share, a rise of 4.5% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.17. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at $1.16 during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net income of $4.30 per share, a rise of 8% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company beat estimates by one cent, coming in at profit of $1.09 a share versus the estimate of net income of $1.08 a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 2.3% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $3.58 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 12 analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and five rating it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit rose 9.7% to $576 million ($1.01 a share) from $525 million (89 cents a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 7.9% to $3.48 billion from $3.22 billion.

Key Stats:

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue rose 10.7% in the second quarter from the year earlier, climbed 12.2% in the first quarter from the year-ago quarter and 0.8% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

Competitors to Watch: Covidien plc (NYSE:COV), C.R. Bard, Inc. (NYSE:BCR), ICU Medical, Incorporated (NASDAQ:ICUI), Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX), Hospira, Inc. (NYSE:HSP), CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE:CRY), Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE:BDX), CareFusion Corporation (NYSE:CFN), Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE), and NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM).

Stock Price Performance: During November 21, 2011 to January 20, 2012, the stock price had risen $3.90 (8%) from $48.78 to $52.68. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between October 3, 2011 and October 10, 2011 when shares rose for six-straight days, rising 6.3% (+$3.35) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 21, 2011 and August 4, 2011 when shares fell for 11-straight days, falling 14.3% (-$8.84) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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