AECOM Technology Earnings Preview

AECOM Technology (NYSE: ACM  ) 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 Thursday, August 4. AECOM Technology provides professional technical and management support services to government and commercial clients worldwide. The company operates in two segments, professional technical services and management support services.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back AECOM Technology, with 12 of 14 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like AECOM Technology better than competitor URS overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $2.06 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 25.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.61 per share. Estimates range from $0.59 to $0.68.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 97% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars, with 97.5% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced AECOM Technology and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 184 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, AECOM Technology's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
AECOM Technology's profit has risen year over year by an average of 18.7%. Revenue has now gone up for three straight 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	Q2	Q1	Q4	Q3
Gross Margin	5.2%	5.4%	6.8%	7.0%
Operating Margin	4.5%	4.7%	5.4%	5.7%
Net Margin	3.0%	2.9%	3.7%	4.0%

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