HCP Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component HCP (NYSE:HCP) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. HCP is a real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, leases, manages healthcare real estate and offers financing to healthcare providers.

HCP Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of 69 cents per share, a rise of 3% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. The average estimate is the same as three months ago. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has dropped from 70 cents during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 2.6% versus last year to $2.76.

Past Earnings Performance: The company topped forecasts last quarter after being in line with estimates the quarter prior. In the second quarter, it reported profit of 69 cents per share versus a mean estimate of 68 cents. Two quarters ago, it reported net income of 67 cents per share.

Earnings season is back and more important than ever. Get our newest CHEAT SHEET stock picks now

A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit fell 11.7% to $202 million (48 cents a share) from $228.8 million (55 cents a share) the year earlier, but exceeded analyst expectations. Revenue fell 6.2% to $465.5 million from $496.2 million.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $467.7 million in revenue this quarter, a rise of 5.2% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $1.85 billion for the year, a rise of 6.9% from last year’s revenue of $1.73 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between July 31, 2012 and October 24, 2012, the stock price fell $2.41 (-5.1%), from $47.21 to $44.80. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between June 21, 2012 and July 3, 2012, when shares rose for nine straight days, increasing 5.2% (+$2.22) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between September 13, 2012 and September 21, 2012 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 4.4% (-$2.07) over that span.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is looking to get back on the right track after last quarter’s drop snapped a string of revenue increases. Revenue rose 37.1% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, 30.3% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year and 34.3%in the first quarter before dropping in the second quarter.

There has enjoyed solid performance recently heading into this earnings announcement with profit rising by a year-over-year average of more than twofold for the last four quarters.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with eight of 15 analysts surveyed giving that rating.

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. In fact, “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework for this very reason. Don’t waste another minute — click here and get our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

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

Don’t Miss These Additional Hot Stories:

These Companies Know Exactly When to Restock Shelves

David Einhorn’s New Investment Letter: I’m Still Long These Big Names

Are Facebook Shares Finally a Buy After Earnings?