Pitney Bowes (PBI) reports Q3: everything you need to know ahead of earnings

What happened

Pitney Bowes, a shipping and mailing solutions provider, will report quarterly earnings on Wednesday afternoon. Last quarter it reported revenues of $451.5 million, down 2.3% year on year, and beat analysts' revenue expectations while also beating earnings per share estimates.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

The coming report is a check on whether the company's revenue decline is easing. Analysts expect a 1.5% yearly drop, better than the 8% fall a year earlier. Because Pitney Bowes has missed revenue estimates several times in two years, another miss could weaken investor confidence.

Analyst inference

Peers in business services and supplies have already reported third-quarter results. UniFirst grew revenue 5% year on year and beat expectations by 1.7%, while Cintas grew revenue 10.9% and topped estimates by 1%. Those results suggest parts of the sector are still growing, a contrast for a company with falling revenue.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. Watch whether reported revenue meets the market expectation of a 1.5% year-on-year decline. Also watch whether earnings per share and full-year earnings guidance stay in line with analyst estimates. Confirmed
2. Watch management's plan for stabilizing revenue, since analysts have kept estimates unchanged over the last 30 days and expect the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Proposed
3. Watch whether revenue falls less than the 8% drop recorded in the same quarter last year, which would show the decline is easing rather than worsening. Analyst inference

Evidence

• stockstory.org