Horace Mann Educators Earnings Preview

Investors hope Horace Mann Educators (NYSE: HMN  ) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by $0.08 in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, July 25. Horace Mann Educators is an insurance holding company, through its subsidiaries' markets, and underwrites personal lines of property and casualty insurance, retirement annuities, and life insurance in the United States of America.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Horace Mann Educators, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts like Horace Mann Educators better than competitor State Auto overall. One out of five analysts rate State Auto a buy compared to one of two for Horace Mann Educators. 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 $242.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 2.4% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is a loss of $0.21 per share. Loss estimates range between $0.17-$0.25.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 91.7% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars, with 84% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Horace Mann Educators, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 26 posts in the past 30 days. The CAPS rating of five out of five stars for Horace Mann Educators is far more upbeat than the community assessment.

Management:
Horace Mann Educators' profit has risen year over year by an average of 2.8%. 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 net margins over the past four quarters:

Quarter	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Net Margin	10.6%	6.3%	8.1%	9.3%

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