Saul Centers Earnings Preview

Investors are bracing for the worst and waiting to see if Saul Centers (NYSE: BFS  ) will fall short of Wall Street forecasts for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Monday. Saul Centers is a real estate investment trust, which is engaged in the ownership, management and development of income-producing properties.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Saul Centers with two of three analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Saul Centers as much as competitor Urstadt Biddle Properties overall. Two out of four analysts rate Urstadt Biddle Properties a buy compared with one of three for Saul Centers. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steadfast in their opinion of the stock.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $42 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 4.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.58 per share. Estimates range from $0.57 to $0.60.

What our community says:
Most CAPS All-Stars are skeptical of BFS prospects, with 62.5% assigning it an "underperform" rating. Like the All-Stars, the community is also not a fan of Saul Centers with 60.4% giving it "underperform" rating. Fools are bearish on Saul Centers, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 26 posts in the past 30 days. Saul Centers' bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Saul Centers' income has fallen year over year by an average of 10.9%. Revenue has fallen in the past two 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 net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Net Margin	17.5%	19.7%	31.2%	15.9%

For all our Saul Centers-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Saul Centers to My Watchlist.

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