Navigant Consulting Earnings Preview

Navigant Consulting (NYSE: NCI  ) will try not to miss earnings again when unveil its latest report on Wednesday, July 27. Navigant Consulting is an independent specialty consulting firm combining deep industry expertise and integrated solutions to assist companies and their legal counsels.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Navigant Consulting, with four of seven rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Navigant Consulting better than competitor Resources Connection overall. Wall Street has warmed to the stock over the past three months, with analysts increasing their endorsement from a hold to a moderate buy.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $185.4 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 7.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.18 per share. Estimates range from $0.17 to $0.20.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 92.6% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 89.9% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Navigant Consulting, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 45 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Navigant Consulting, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Navigant Consulting's profit has risen year over year by an average of 22.4%. The company's revenue has now risen for two 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	29%	27.3%	29.1%	30.5%
Operating Margin	8.8%	2.3%	8.2%	9.8%
Net Margin	4.6%	0.3%	5.3%	4.5%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Navigant Consulting movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.

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