Mobile Mini Earnings Preview

Mobile Mini (Nasdaq: MINI  ) came in under analysts' estimates last quarter but has a chance to fix things this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Thursday. Mobile Mini is a provider of portable storage solutions in North America and the United Kingdom.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Mobile Mini, with half rating the stock a hold. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained unchanged in their opinion of the stock.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $86.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.9% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.16 per share. Estimates range from $0.15 to $0.18.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 98.4% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the Al- Stars with 96.4% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Mobile Mini and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 139 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Mobile Mini's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Mobile Mini's income has fallen year over year by an average of 13.7%. The company's revenue has now risen for two 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	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Gross Margin	92.7%	92.3%	93.6%	92.9%
Operating Margin	25.0%	29.5%	28%	26.7%
Net Margin	5.0%	1.0%	6.5%	5.8%

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

The Motley Fool owns shares of Mobile Mini. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Mobile Mini. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not 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.