Zebra Technologies Earnings Preview

Watch Zebra Technologies' (Nasdaq: ZBRA  ) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday. Zebra Technologies designs, manufactures, sells, and supports direct thermal and thermal transfer label printers, radio frequency identification printer/encoders, and dye sublimation card printers.

What analysts say

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Zebra Technologies with six of seven analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Zebra Technologies as much as competitor Intermec overall. Three out of six analysts rate Intermec a buy compared to one of seven for Zebra Technologies. Zebra Technologies' rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $248.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.3% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.59 per share. Estimates range from $0.56 to $0.61.

What our community says
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 92.9% granting it an outperform rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 92.1% giving it a rating of outperform. Fools are bullish on Zebra Technologies, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 60 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Zebra Technologies' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management
Zebra Technologies' profit has risen year over year by an average of more than twofold. 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	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Gross Margin	50.6%	49.8%	48.2%	47.2%
Operating Margin	18.7%	16.3%	15.8%	13.9%
Net Margin	26.0%	11.4%	10.6%	9.6%

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

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.