Gibraltar Industries Earnings Preview

Gibraltar Industries (Nasdaq: ROCK  ) will look to avoid missing estimates again when it unveils its latest earnings on Wednesday, Aug. 3. Gibraltar Industries is a manufacturer, processor, and distributor of residential and commercial building products and processed metal products for the building and construction, industrial, and automotive markets.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Gibraltar Industries, with three of five rating it a hold. Analysts don't like Gibraltar Industries as much as competitor Apogee Enterprises overall. Three out of five analysts rate Apogee Enterprises a buy, compared with two of five for Gibraltar Industries. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared with three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $213.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 11.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.26 per share. Estimates range from $0.20 to $0.30.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 80% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 77.3% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Gibraltar Industries, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 44 posts in the past 30 days. Gibraltar Industries' bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool communitys sentiment.

Management:
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	18.4%	12.1%	17.2%	20.4%
Operating Margin	4.4%	(57.1%)	3%	6.1%
Net Margin	5.1%	(48.5%)	0.7%	1.8%

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