Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) came in under analyst's estimates last quarter, but it now has a chance to fix things this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. Ingram Micro is a global information technology wholesale distributor by net sales, providing sales, marketing, and logistics services for the IT industry worldwide.

What analysts say:
 

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Ingram Micro, with five of nine rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Overall, analysts don't like Ingram Micro as much as its competitor Tech Data.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $8.57 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.37 per share. Estimates range from $0.33 to $0.40.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 95.9% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars, with 92.8% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Ingram Micro, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 59 posts in the past 30 days. Ingram Micro has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars.

Management:
Ingram Micro's profit has risen year over year by an average of 52.1%. 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

5.2%

5.7%

5.4%

5.4%

Operating Margin

1.1%

1.7%

1.3%

1.3%

Net Margin

0.6%

1.2%

0.8%

0.8%

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