United Online Earnings Preview

Watch United Online's (Nasdaq: UNTD  ) earnings report to see whether it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, Aug. 3. The company is a provider of consumer products and services over the Internet through a number of brands, including FTD, Interflora, Classmates, NetZero, and MyPoints.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on United Online, as three rate it as a buy and only one rates it as a sell. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared with three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $255.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.2% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.19 per share. Estimates range from $0.19 to $0.20.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 90.9% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 91.3% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about United Online and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 102 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of United Online, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
United Online's income has fallen year over year by an average of 11.1%. Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters.

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%	53.1%	56.4%	52.7%
Operating Margin	9.4%	13.5%	13.2%	12.3%
Net Margin	5%	7%	6.3%	5.8%

For all our United Online-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add United Online to My Watchlist.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.