Printed circuit board manufacturer TTM Technologies (NASDAQ:TTMI) is reporting Q3 2006 earnings tonight, and this Fool is here to give you a sense of what to expect. The conference call also covers a recently closed acquisition.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or waffle? Out of the eight analysts following TTM, five have issued a buy recommendation, two a sell, and the last one is holding in between. In Motley Fool CAPS, 12 all-star bulls versus six bears make this a two-star stock.
  • Revenues. The average analyst forecast calls for $76 million of revenues this quarter, up 25% from last year's $61 million.
  • Earnings. Earnings should land around $0.23 per share, in Wall Street's opinion. That's almost double the $0.13 EPS from a year ago.

What management says:
CEO Kent Alders describes TTM as a "very nimble company; we have these specialized facilities that give us flexibility where we can service our customers as our demands ebb and flow, as they push orders out and pull orders in." That customer focus is quite appropriate for a company named Time To Market, and quick-turnaround manufacturing is the company's chief competitive advantage.

What management does:
Margins and earnings hit a slow patch last year, but things are looking up of late. The company has never before seen net margins as fat as these. We'll see how the acquisition of Tyco's (NYSE:TYC) Printed Circuit Group affects margins, but TTM on its own is running a tight ship.

Margins %

4/05

7/05

10/05

12/05

4/06

7/06

Gross

26.8

23.9

22.6

22.4

23.8

26.5

Op.

15.9

13.3

11.9

11.9

13.8

16.9

Net

10.9

9.5

7.9

12.8

13.9

15.5
All data courtesy of Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Data reflects trailing-12-month performance for the quarters ended in the named months.

One Fool says:
The addition of Tyco's printed circuit board division more than doubles TTM's revenues and headcount, and gives the company a larger slice of the market pie. With the new addition, the company enters new markets in the military and aerospace sectors, and its customers should benefit from the larger pool of manufacturing capacity. With customer satisfaction comes pricing power and fatter gross margins, and that's the way to success here.

It's not hard to imagine this management team making hay out of this merger, which closed earlier this week. It won't have any effect on this quarter, but it changes the picture dramatically after that. For tonight, given the unexpected customer demands reported by cell phone manufacturers and other electronics companies, I'm expecting a more than decent quarter by TTM, as it's ideally suited for making money from rapid industry changes.

Competitors:

  • Sanmina-SCI (NASDAQ:SANM)
  • Merix (NASDAQ:MERX)
  • DDI (NASDAQ:DDIC)
  • Eltek (NASDAQ:ELTK)

TTM Technologies is a Stock Advisor selection, and Tyco is an Inside Value recommendation. For more great investing ideas, sign up for a free, no-strings-attached, 30-day trial to any of our newsletter services.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like, and Foolish disclosure is good for you.