United Fire & Casualty Earnings Preview

Investors are bracing for the worst and waiting to see whether United Fire & Casualty (Nasdaq: UFCS  ) will fall short of Wall Street forecasts for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, July 26. United Fire & Casualty is engaged in the business of writing property and casualty insurance and life insurance.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is a loss of $0.60 per share.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 95.2% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 93.8% granting it a rating of "outperform." Although Fools are keen on United Fire & Casualty, the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 75 posts in the past 30 days. United Fire & Casualty has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community's assessment.

Management:
United Fire & Casualty's income has fallen year over year by an average of 45.9%.

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	4%	6.1%	2.5%	10.4%

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Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of United Fire & Casualty. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't 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.