Trimble Navigation Earnings Preview

Trimble Navigation Limited (Nasdaq: TRMB  ) met its estimates last quarter, but investors hope that it will beat them this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 2. Trimble Navigation provides advanced positioning product solutions, typically to commercial and government users. Its products include agricultural and construction equipment, guidance systems, surveying instruments, and data collection systems.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Trimble Navigation, with seven of 13 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Trimble Navigation better than competitor Garmin overall.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $394.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 18.3% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.47 per share. Estimates range from $0.45 to $0.48.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 88.5% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars, with 93.1% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Trimble Navigation and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 117 posts in the past 30 days. Trimble Navigation's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Trimble Navigation's profit has risen year over year by an average of 91.7%.

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	49.8%	50.5%	50.2%	49.0%
Operating Margin	11.4%	6.0%	10.0%	12.2%
Net Margin	10.3%	11.3%	10.3%	1.9%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Trimble Navigation movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.

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