Bio-Rad Laboratories Earnings Preview

While Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE: BIO  ) missed estimates last quarter, investors hope that it will bounce back and outpace Wall Street expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 2. Bio-Rad Laboratories is a manufacturer and worldwide distributor of its own life science research and clinical diagnostics products.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Bio-Rad Laboratories, with four of five rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Bio-Rad Laboratories better than competitor Gen-Probe overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $508.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 8.7% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.47 per share. Estimates range from $1.45 to $1.48.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 100% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars, with 96.2% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Bio-Rad Laboratories, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 61 posts in the past 30 days. Bio-Rad Laboratories has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Bio-Rad Laboratories' profit has risen year over year by an average of 22.6%. 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	57.2%	56.2%	56.5%	57.4%
Operating Margin	13.8%	14.6%	15.9%	14.6%
Net Margin	6.8%	12.7%	9.5%	8.1%

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