The expected quarterly or annual earnings of a given company, as estimated by...

Professional share analysts use mathematical models that weigh companies' financial data to predict their future earnings per share on a quarterly, annual, and long-term basis. Investment research companies, publish averages of analysts' estimates, called consensus estimates, for shares that are closely followed by market professionals. When a company's earnings report either exceeds or fails to meet analysts' estimates, it's called an earnings surprise. An upside surprise occurs when a company reports higher earnings than analysts predicted and usually triggers an increase in the share price. A negative surprise, on the other hand, occurs when a company fails to meet expectations and often causes the share's price to fall.

an individual financial analyst's estimation of how a company will perform during a financial period