Unisys Corp (NYSE:UIS) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. Unisys is a worldwide information technology company. The company provides a portfolio of IT services, software, and technology that solves critical problems for clients.

Unisys Corp Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1.50 per share, a decline of 31.8% 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 $1.60. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It also has dropped from $1.58 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 37.6% versus last year to $2.29.

Past Earnings Performance: The company has beaten estimates the last two quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped the forecasts by 93 cents, reporting profit of $1.63 per share against a mean estimate of net income of 70 cents. In the second quarter, the company exceeded forecasts by $1.01 with profit of 93 cents versus a mean estimate of net loss of 8 cents.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a decline of 1.9% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $1.02 billion.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit rose more than twofold to $82.7 million ($1.63 a share) from $28.3 million (65 cents a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 6.2% to $1.02 billion from $960.6 million.

Key Stats:

A year-over-year revenue increase in the third quarter snapped a streak of three consecutive quarters of revenue declines. Revenue fell 11.3% in the second quarter, 8.7% in the first quarter and 13.6% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

Unisys’ profit last quarter followed losses in the previous two quarters. The company reported a loss of $7.6 million in the second quarter and a loss of $39.4 million in the first quarter.

Competitors to Watch: Intl. Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT), EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), WidePoint Corporation (AMEX:WYY), Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE:CSC), SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL).

Stock Price Performance: During October 27, 2011 to January 25, 2012, the stock price had fallen $6.54 (-23.9%) from $27.32 to $20.78. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between January 28, 2011 and February 8, 2011 when shares rose for eight-straight days, rising 40.4% (+$11.16) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between December 9, 2011 and December 19, 2011 when shares fell for seven-straight days, falling 19.8% (-$4.83) over that span.

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

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