WW Grainger Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component WW Grainger (NYSE:GWW) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Thursday, January 24, 2013. W.W. Grainger is a distributor of facilities maintenance products and provides services and related information used by businesses and institutions throughout North America.

WW Grainger Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $2.61 per share, a rise of 22.5% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from $2.56. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at $2.61 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 17.5% compared to last year’s $10.62.

Past Earnings Performance: The company fell short of estimates last quarter after being in line with forecasts the quarter prior. In the third quarter, it reported net income of $2.81 per share versus a mean estimate of $2.90. Two quarters ago, it reported profit of $2.63 per share.

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A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit fell 14.7% to $155.4 million ($2.15 a share) from $182.1 million ($2.51 a share) the year earlier, missing analyst expectations. Revenue rose 7.9% to $2.28 billion from $2.11 billion.

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