Investors hope National Fuel Gas (NYSE: NFG) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by $0.04 in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Friday. National Fuel Gas is a diversified energy company which operates its business in four segments: utility, pipeline and storage, exploration and production, and energy marketing.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on National Fuel Gas as six analysts rate it as a buy and only one analyst rates it as a sell. Analysts like National Fuel Gas better than competitor ONEOK overall. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steadfast in their opinion of the stock.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $374.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.8% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.53 per share. Estimates range from $0.49 to $0.59.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 94.6% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 93% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about National Fuel Gas, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 73 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, National Fuel Gas' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
National Fuel Gas' profit has risen year over year by an average of 19%. 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

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

35.9%

42.2%

50.2%

44.7%

Net Margin

17.5%

13.0%

13.8%

12.0%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on National Fuel Gas movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your watchlist.

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