While PetMed Express (Nasdaq: PETS) missed estimates last quarter, investors hope that it will bounce back and outpace Wall Street expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday. PetMed Express is a nationwide pet pharmacy. The company markets prescription and non-prescription pet medications and other health products for dogs, cats, and horses direct to the consumer.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold? Analysts are bearish on PetMed Express as four analysts rate it as a sell and only two analysts rate it as a buy. Analysts like PetMed Express better than competitor China Nepstar Chain Drug overall. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steady in their opinion of the stock.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $73.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 1% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 24 cents per share. Estimates range from 20 cents to 27 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 97.7% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars with 97.1% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on PetMed Express and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 319 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, PetMed Express' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
PetMed Express' income has fallen year over year by an average of 20.5%. The company's gross margin shrank by 5.6 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 1.2% while cost of sales rose 10.6% to $33.4 million from a year earlier.

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.

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

34.3%

37.5%

36.5%

36.6%

Operating Margin

12.7%

15.6%

12.6%

15.9%

Net Margin

8.1%

10%

8.1%

9.7%

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