Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number. For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Chemed would post earnings of $3.60 per share when it actually produced earnings of $3.68, delivering a surprise of +2.22%. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times.