Dolan Media Company Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for Dolan Media Company (NYSE: DM  ) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 2. Dolan Co is a provider of necessary business information and professional services to the legal, financial and real estate sectors in the United States.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Dolan Media Company, with three of five rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts don't like Dolan Media Company as much as competitor CRA International overall. Dolan Media Company's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $69.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 12% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.09 per share. Estimates range from $0.06 to $0.12.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 90% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars with 83.5% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Dolan Media Company, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 35 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Dolan Media Company, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Dolan Media Company's income has fallen year over year by an average of 8.6%. A year-over-year revenue decrease last quarter snaps a streak of three consecutive quarters of revenue increases. The company's gross margin shrank by 6.1 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue fell 5.8% while cost of sales rose 9.4% to $31.8 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, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters. 

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