Websense Earnings Preview

Websense (Nasdaq: WBSN  ) came in under analysts' estimates last quarter but now have a chance to fix things. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, July 26. Websense is a provider of Web filtering and security, data-loss prevention, and email anti-spam and security solutions.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on Websense, as six rate it as a buy and only two rate it as a sell. Analysts like Websense better than competitor Blue Coat Systems overall. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared with three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $89.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.28 per share. Estimates range from $0.23 to $0.30.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 100% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 84.9% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Websense, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 41 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Websense, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
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	83.5%	83.3%	84%	84.2%
Operating Margin	8.8%	8.9%	14.6%	8.6%
Net Margin	9.2%	10.3%	6.8%	3.8%

For all our Websense-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Websense to My Watchlist.

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