Equifax Inc.’s massive data breach took several weeks to become public, likely affected a staggering number of U.S. consumers and exposed extremely personal financial information.

Expecting there to be ramifications when the company EFX, +0.71% reports third-quarter earnings, scheduled for Thursday?

Don’t look on Wall Street.

“Megabreach creates opportunity,” was Wells Fargo Securities analyst William Warmington, Jr.’s take.

Though the data breach might render Wall Street earnings estimates too high, possibly creating stock volatility come Wednesday, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Andrew Jeffrey also advised investors to buy.

“Our view remains that Equifax’s core value proposition — facilitating underwriting, decisioning, marketing and risk management — remains intact,” Jeffrey said.

Read: What to do now if you’re among 143 million Americans affected by Equifax data breach

Potential breach-related fines and lawsuit settlements could be substantial, Wall Street analysts said, ranging between about $500 million to $1 billion. But the company can probably absorb it, along with whatever legal, cybersecurity and customer service costs the breach will entail, said Wells Fargo’s Warmington.

Those pesky regulators might also ask for such things as increased cybersecurity spending or system audits, “which could reduce EFX’s profitability,” he said. But “based on previous breaches, we do not expect such expenses would be material to EFX’s financials.”

Related: 4 things that might surprise investors this earnings season

Not everyone agrees. RBC Capital Markets analyst Gary Bisbee downgraded Equifax on Monday, warning against buying the stock because of several uncertainties about how the breach will affect it.

“We believe that it could take several quarters for these questions to come into focus, and we do not expect Q3 results to provide many answers,” Bisbee said.

But others saw a clearer picture. The hack will also likely eat into the company’s $200 million in direct-to-consumer business, but even a substantial loss would be limited, since it makes up just 6% of total revenue, Warmington said.

And in the long term, the breach could actually buoy Equifax by stimulating consumer interest in paid credit monitoring services, he said.

See: Equifax faces its biggest litigation threat from state attorneys general

Ultimately, consumers aren’t Equifax’s main business — selling services to other businesses is.

And the company probably won’t lose those corporate clients “because of the high cost of switching data providers and limited impact the breach has had to B2B clients,” said Warmington.

Here are some things to watch for:

Earnings: Equifax is expected to report earnings-per-share of $1.49, up from $1.44 in the year-earlier period, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Estimize, a software platform that crowdsources estimates from buy-side analysts, hedge-fund managers and others, expects EPS of $1.48.

Revenue: Equifax is expected to report sales of $847.4 million, up from $804 million in the year-earlier period, according to FactSet.

Estimize expects slightly more, or $848.0 million.

Stock reaction: Equifax shares have plummeted 24.7% over the past three months, compared with a 4.4% rise in the S&P 500 SPX, +0.52% .

Read: Equifax’s stock has fallen 31% since breach disclosure, erasing $5 billion in market cap

The company disclosed the breach after the bell on Sept. 7, causing shares to plummet in the ensuing days. News reports later revealed that hackers had free rein in the company’s computer network for more than four months, though the company didn’t discover the breach until late July. Since the breach was made public, several company executives have left, and its ex-chief executive officer was grilled by lawmakers.

See: Equifax says millions more customers affected in cyberattack than previously reported

What to watch for: Other companies may reference the Equifax breach this earnings season, depending on whether it serves their purposes.

Neither J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM, -0.74% nor Citigroup Inc. C, -0.58% mentioned the breach on their company earnings calls until a Morgan Stanley analyst asked.

But, as MarketWatch has previously reported, it’s possible companies will bring it up to explain results that came in below expectations, or in the context of increased cyberinsurance costs.

Also look for Equifax commentary on how the breach will affect all kinds of financial metrics. Wall Street estimates have been extrapolated from breaches at other companies, but Equifax’s was larger than many.

Equifax management will also likely give detail about how (or if) these costs will affect future financial results, another major question for investors.