Masimo Earnings Preview

Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI) met its estimates last quarter, but investors hope that it will beat them this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 9. Masimo is a global medical technology company that develops, manufactures, and markets noninvasive patient monitoring products that improve patient care.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: The majority of analysts back Masimo as a buy. But with only 60% of analysts rating it a buy, Masimo is still below the mean analyst buy rating of its nearest 10 competitors, which average 73.9%. Analysts like Masimo better than competitor CONMED overall. Two out of four analysts rate CONMED a buy compared to six of 10 for Masimo. 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 $111.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 11.2% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.28 per share. Estimates range from $0.27 to $0.29.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 92.7% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 94.1% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Masimo, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 48 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Masimo's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Masimo's profit has risen year over year by an average of 4.2%. The company's gross margin shrank by 2.4 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 14.5% while cost of sales rose 23.9% to $36.2 million from a year earlier.

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.

We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized service. Add Masimo now.

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.