UniSource Energy Earnings Preview

UniSource Energy (NYSE: UNS  ) came in under analyst's estimates last quarter, but now have a chance to fix things this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, August 1. A holding company, which through its subsidiaries provides electricity and gas utility services. It conducts its business in three segments TEP, UNS Gas and UNS Electric.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on UniSource Energy with analysts unanimously rating it hold. Analysts don't like UniSource Energy as much as competitor El Paso Electric Company overall. Three out of five analysts rate El Paso Electric Company a buy compared to zero of four for UniSource Energy. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $351.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 4.1% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.70 per share. Estimates range from $0.67 to $0.73.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 95.8% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 95.1% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on UniSource Energy, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 17 posts in the past 30 days. UniSource Energy has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
UniSource Energy's income has fallen year over year by an average of 7.9%. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 4.2 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 8.4% while cost of sales rose 15.1% to $247.5 million from a year earlier.

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 and net margins over the past four quarters. 

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