Health Net Earnings Preview

Health Net (NYSE: HNT  ) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, August 4. Health Net is an integrated managed-care organization that delivers managed health-care services.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Health Net with 12 of 17 analysts rating it hold. Analysts like Health Net better than competitor WellCare Health Plans overall. One out of 10 analysts rate WellCare Health Plans a buy compared to three of 17 for Health Net. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $2.83 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 15.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.71 per share. Estimates range from $0.62 to $0.78.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 85.5% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars, with 76% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Health Net, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 46 posts in the past 30 days. Health Net's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
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: 

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Health Net movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.

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