Investors are bracing for the worst and waiting to see if EMCOR Group (NYSE: EME) will fall short of Wall Street forecasts for the consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Thursday. EMCOR Group is an electrical and mechanical construction and facilities services firm that designs, integrates, installs, operates, and maintains electrical and mechanical systems.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on EMCOR Group, with four of seven analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like EMCOR Group as much as competitor Dycom Industries overall. Four out of six analysts rate Dycom Industries a buy compared with three of seven for EMCOR Group. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained unchanged in their opinion of the stock.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.36 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 6.3% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.40 per share. Estimates range from $0.35 to $0.47.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 96.4% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 96% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced EMCOR Group, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 94 posts in the past 30 days. EMCOR Group has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:

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

12.4%

15.1%

13.5%

13.8%

Operating Margin

3.2%

5.0%

(13.7%)

2.7%

Net Margin

1.9%

2.9%

(13.7%)

2.1%

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