Healthcare Services Group Earnings Preview

Healthcare Services Group (Nasdaq: HCSG  ) didn't hit the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors hope that it will rebound this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, July 11. Healthcare Services Group provides housekeeping, laundry, linen, facility maintenance, and dietary services to the health-care industry, including nursing homes, retirement complexes, rehabilitation centers and hospitals located throughout the U.S.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Healthcare Services Group, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts like Healthcare Services Group better than competitor UniFirst overall. One out of six analysts rate UniFirst a buy compared to three of six for Healthcare Services Group. Healthcare Services Group's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $215.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 11.5% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 15 cents per share.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 98.8% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 93.4% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Healthcare Services Group, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 93 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Healthcare Services Group's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Healthcare Services Group's profit has risen year over year by an average of 16.6%. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters. 

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