Brink's Earnings Preview

Brink's (NYSE: BCO  ) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. Brink's is a provider of secure transportation, cash logistics, and other security-related services to banks and financial institutions, retailers, government agencies, mints, jewelers, and other commercial operations around the world.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Brink's, with two of three rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Brink's better than competitor Diebold overall. Brink's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $910.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 24.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.33 per share. Estimates range from $0.28 to $0.38.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 95.9% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 95.3% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Brink's, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 78 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Brink's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
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	17%	20.9%	19.3%	17.2%
Operating Margin	4.1%	5.3%	5.7%	4.3%
Net Margin	2.2%	2.3%	3.1%	2.9%

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