Monolithic Power Systems (Nasdaq: MPWR) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Tuesday. Monolithic Power Systems designs, develops, and markets proprietary, advanced analog, and mixed-signal semiconductors.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Monolithic Power Systems, with 10 of 13 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Monolithic Power Systems better than competitor Micrel overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared with three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $51 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 8.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.10 per share. Estimates range from $0.09 to $0.13.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 97.6% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 93.2% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Monolithic Power Systems, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 30 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Monolithic Power Systems' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Monolithic Power Systems' profit has risen year over year by an average of 3.3%. 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 8.1 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue fell 11.5% while cost of sales rose 5.8% to $22.2 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.

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Gross Margin

50.2%

50.5%

54.7%

58.2%

Operating Margin

4.3%

8.4%

20.4%

12.2%

Net Margin

4.3%

7.6%

20.1%

11.5%

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