Standard Motor Products Earnings Preview

Standard Motor Products (NYSE: SMP  ) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. Standard Motor Products is an independent manufacturer and distributor of replacement parts for motor vehicles in the automotive aftermarket industry, with an increasing focus on the original equipment and original equipment service markets.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold? Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Standard Motor Products, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts like Standard Motor Products better than competitor Fuel Systems Solutions overall. Two out of seven analysts rate Fuel Systems Solutions a buy compared with one of two for Standard Motor Products.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $243.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.5% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.45 per share. Estimates range from $0.40 to $0.49.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 100% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars with 92.1% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Standard Motor Products, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 53 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Standard Motor Products' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

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	24.1%	26.2%	26.4%	25.3%
Operating Margin	5.6%	4.9%	7.3%	6.6%
Net Margin	3%	1.3%	4.2%	3.3%

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