Mine Safety Appliances Earnings Preview

Investors hope Mine Safety Appliances (NYSE: MSA  ) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by $0.14 in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. Mine Safety Appliances is engaged in the development, manufacture and supply of products that protect people's health and safety.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold? Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Mine Safety Appliances, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it than they were three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $294.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 24.1% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.48 per share. Estimates range from $0.41 to $0.58 per share.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars solidly back the stock, with 94.6% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large supports the All-Stars, with 89.9% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Mine Safety Appliances, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 65 posts in the past 30 days. Though still bullish, the CAPS rating of four out of five stars for Mine Safety Appliances is a bit more pessimistic than the community's assessment.

Management:
Mine Safety Appliances' profit has risen year over year by an average of 37.2%. 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	40.1%	36.9%	37.7%	38%
Operating Margin	7.4%	5.6%	6.3%	7.8%
Net Margin	4.8%	4.2%	4%	5%

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