Mid-America Apartment Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for Mid-America Apartment (NYSE: MAA  ) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, August 4. Mid-America Apartment Communities is a self-administrated and self-managed real estate investment trust which owns, acquires, and operates multifamily apartment communities mainly in the sunbelt region of the United States.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Mid-America Apartment, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts like Mid-America Apartment better than competitor Home Properties overall. Eight out of 18 analysts rate Home Properties a buy compared to six of 12 for Mid-America Apartment.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $108.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 9.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.0 per share. Estimates range from $0.96 to $1.02.

What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All Stars see MAA as a good bet, with 62.1% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The majority of Fools are in agreement with the All Stars, as 63.9% give it an "outperform" rating. Fools are bullish on Mid-America Apartment, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 23 posts in the past 30 days. Mid-America Apartment's bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Mid-America Apartment's income has fallen year over year by an average of 16%. 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 net margins over the past four quarters:

Quarter	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Net Margin	8.3%	6.6%	6.7%	6.8%

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