Harsco Earnings Preview

Watch Harsco's (NYSE: HSC  ) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Thursday. Harsco is a multinational provider of industrial services and engineered products serving industries fundamental to worldwide economic growth.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Harsco with six of 10 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Harsco as much as competitor Esterline Technologies overall. Nine out of 11 analysts rate Esterline Technologies a buy compared with four of 10 for Harsco. Analysts still rate the stock a Hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared with three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $817.5 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 3.9% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.36 per share. Estimates range from $0.34 to $0.37.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 98.9% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 96.9% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Harsco, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 70 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Harsco's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

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. 

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