Oceaneering International Earnings Preview

Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII  ) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, July 27. Oceaneering International is an oil field provider of engineered services and products, mainly to the offshore oil and gas industry, with a focus on deep water applications.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 11 analysts rating it as a buy and only one rating it as a sell. Analysts don't like Oceaneering International as much as competitor Superior Energy Services 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 $507.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 9.2% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.48 per share. Estimates range from $0.47 to $0.50.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 97.6% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars, with 98.1% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Oceaneering International and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 178 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Oceaneering International's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Oceaneering International's profit has risen year over year by an average of 10.7%. 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:

Quarter	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Gross Margin	21.0%	23.4%	24.3%	26.6%
Operating Margin	13.0%	14.7%	17.1%	18.4%
Net Margin	8.9%	9.5%	11.5%	11.7%

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