McKesson Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component McKesson (NYSE:MCK) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Thursday, January 31, 2013. McKesson delivers cost-reducing medicines, pharmaceutical supplies, information, and care management products and services.

McKesson Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for net income of $1.63 per share, a rise of 16.4% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.64. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It has since dropped over the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of $7.29 per share, a rise of 14.3% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: The company has beaten estimates the last four quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped forecasts by 16 cents, reporting net income of $1.92 per share against a mean estimate of profit of $1.76 per share.

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A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 35.5% to $401 million ($1.67 a share) from $296 million ($1.18 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue fell 1.2% to $29.85 billion from $30.22 billion.

Here’s how McKesson traded following its last earnings report 3 months ago and leading up to its upcoming earnings report this week: