Eagle Materials Earnings Preview

Eagle Materials (NYSE: EXP  ) beat estimates by $0.04 last quarter, and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings Thursday. Eagle Materials is a diversified producer of basic building materials and construction products used in residential, industrial, commercial, and infrastructure construction.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Eagle Materials, with 12 of 13 analysts rating it a hold.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $130.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 0.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.13 per share. Estimates range from $0.07 to $0.17.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 96.9% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 92.7% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Eagle Materials and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 190 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Eagle Materials, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Revenue has fallen for the past three 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.

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