IDACORP Earnings Preview

Investors are on the edges of their seats, hoping that IDACORP (NYSE: IDA  ) will top analyst expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, August 4. A holding company whose operating subsidiary, Idaho Power Company, is engaged in the generation, transmission, distribution, sale, and purchase of electric energy.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on IDACORP, as three analysts rate it as a buy and only one analyst rates it as a sell. Analysts like IDACORP better than competitor Portland General Electric Company overall. 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 $238.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 1.2% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.59 per share. Estimates range from $0.55 to $0.62.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 77.3% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars, with 82.5% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about IDACORP, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 31 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of IDACORP, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
IDACORP's profit has risen year over year by an average of 34.5%. Revenue has fallen for the past three 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 and net margins over the past four quarters:

Quarter	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Gross Margin	35.3%	51.6%	40.0%	29.4%
Net Margin	11.8%	8.8%	21.7%	16.2%

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