John Wiley & Sons (JW-A) Q4 Earnings: Will It Disappoint?

John Wiley & Sons Inc. JW.A is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 financial numbers before the opening bell on June 13.

The company registered a positive earnings surprise of 15% in third-quarter fiscal 2017. Notably, the company’s earnings have surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by an average of 2.6% in the trailing four quarters.

What to Expect?

The question lingering in investors’ minds now is whether John Wiley & Sons will be able to post positive earnings surprise in the quarter to be reported. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter under review is 66 cents, reflecting a year-over-year decrease of 1.5%.

We note that the Zacks Consensus Estimate has witnessed upward revisions in the past 30 days. Analysts polled by Zacks expect revenues of $429 million, compared with $434 million reported in the prior-year quarter.

Factors Influencing This Quarter

Softness in print book market continues to hamper the company’s performance. Revenues for printed educational text books plunged 27% in third-quarter fiscal 2017. Despite reporting second straight quarter of earnings beat along with a year-over-year increase, as it posted third-quarter fiscal 2017, management still expects fiscal year earnings per share to be down by mid-single digits. Moreover, the company expects revenues to decline by low-single digit decline in fiscal 2017.

John Wiley generates about half of its revenue from international operations and consequently, remains susceptible to adverse currency movements with regard to the euro and pound sterling, in particular. Foreign currency fluctuations hurt revenue by $12.9 million and $36.8 million in the third quarter and nine months, respectively. Earlier, the company stated it anticipates these headwinds to persist and impact fiscal 2017 results.

Zacks Model Shows Unlikely Earnings Beat

Our proven model does not conclusively show that John Wiley & Sons is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. John Wiley & Sons has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at 66 cents.

The company carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates

Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) has an Earnings ESP of +1.74% and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has an Earnings ESP of +3.28% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) has an Earnings ESP of +2.04% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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