Plexus Earnings Preview

Plexus (Nasdaq: PLXS  ) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, July 20. Plexus provides product realization services to original equipment manufacturers and other technology companies in the wireline/networking, wireless infrastructure, medical, industrial/commercial, and defense/security/aerospace market sectors.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Plexus, with five of eight rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Plexus better than competitor Benchmark Electronics overall. Wall Street has warmed to the stock over the past three months, with analysts increasing their endorsement from Hold to Moderate Buy.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $567.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 54 cents per share. Estimates range from 53 cents to 55 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 97% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars with 94.2% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Plexus, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 90 posts in the past 30 days. Plexus also enjoys a a robust four out of five stars for its CAPS rating.

Management:
Plexus' profit has risen year over year by an average of 74.2%.

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	Q2	Q1	Q4	Q3
Gross Margin	9.8%	9.7%	10.1%	10.4%
Operating Margin	4.6%	4.9%	5.2%	5%
Net Margin	4.2%	4.4%	4.8%	4.5%

We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized service. Add Plexus now.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.