Unity Software Inc. (U) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.15 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.05 per share. This compares with earnings of $0.06 per share a year ago. These figures have been adjusted for one-off items.
This quarterly report represents a 200% earnings surprise. A quarter ago, it was expected that this company would post earnings of $0.19 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.23, delivering a surprise of 21.05%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.
Unity Software, which belongs to the Zacks Internet – Software industry, posted revenues of $460.38 million for the quarter ended March 2024, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.96%. This compares to revenues of $500.36 million a year ago. The company has surpassed consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock’s immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management’s commentary on the earnings outlook.
Unity Software shares have lost about 41.1% since the beginning of the year, versus the S&P 500’s gain of 8.8%.
What’s next for Unity Software?
While Unity Software has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors’ minds is: what’s next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this important question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this issue is the company’s earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock prices and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Unity Software is favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company’s just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the stock is expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how the estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year will change in the coming days. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.11 on $434.13 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.61 on $1.79 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
Investors should be aware that the industry outlook can also have a material impact on the stock’s performance. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Internet – Software currently sits in the top 30% of the 250+ Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
Another stock from the same sector, Rekor Systems, Inc. (REKR), has not yet reported results for the quarter ending March 2024. Results are expected to be released on May 15.
This company is expected to post a quarterly loss of $0.11 per share in its upcoming report, which would represent a year-over-year change of +52.2%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the past thirty days.
The turnover of Rekor Systems, Inc. is expected to reach $13.03 million, an increase of 110.4% from the same quarter last year.
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