National Retail Properties (NYSE: NNN) hasn't been able to establish an earnings trend, bouncing between beating and falling short of estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Friday, Aug. 5. National Retail Properties is a fully integrated real estate investment trust.

What analysts say:
 

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on National Retail Properties with eight of 10 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like National Retail Properties as much as competitor CBL & Associates Properties overall. Four out of 13 analysts rate CBL & Associates Properties a buy, compared to two of 10 for National Retail Properties. Analysts still rate the stock a Hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $61.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 8.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate calls for earnings of $0.38 per share. Estimates range from $0.37 to $0.39.

What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All Stars see NNN as a good bet, with 71.9% giving it an "outperform" rating. The majority of the Fools are in agreement with the All Stars, as 75.9% give it an "outperform" rating. Fools have embraced National Retail Properties, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 29 posts in the past 30 days. National Retail Properties' bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
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 net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Net Margin

29.4%

19.5%

32.2%

32.2%

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

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