World Acceptance (Nasdaq: WRLD) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Wednesday. World Acceptance is a consumer finance company that offers short-term small loans, medium-term larger loans, related credit insurance products, and ancillary products and services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on World Acceptance with two of three analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like World Acceptance as much as competitor Nelnet overall. Two out of five analysts rate Nelnet a buy compared with one of three for World Acceptance. Analysts' rating of World Acceptance has stayed constant from three months prior.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $124.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 12.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.27 per share. Estimates range from $1.22 to $1.31.

What our community says:
Most CAPS All-Stars are skeptical of WRLD prospects, with 59.7% giving it an "underperform" rating. The community is divided on the stock, with 50.5% Fools assigning it an "outperform" rating and 49.8% an "underperform" rating. Fools are skeptical of World Acceptance and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 136 posts in the past 30 days. World Acceptance's bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
World Acceptance's profit has risen year over year by an average of 26.1%.

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

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Net Margin

25%

14.3%

17.1%

17%

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