URS (NYSE: URS) didn't hit the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors hope that it will rebound this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 9. URS is an international provider of engineering, construction and technical services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts don't like URS as much as competitor AECOM Technology overall. Twelve out of 14 analysts rate AECOM Technology a buy compared to seven of 16 for URS. 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 $2.46 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 9.3% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.92 per share. Estimates range from $0.84 to $0.99.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 96.5% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars, with 94.9% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced URS and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 104 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, URS' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
URS' profit has risen year over year by an average of 4.1%. 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 gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Gross Margin

5.0%

4.9%

8.7%

5.7%

Operating Margin

5.7%

5.1%

6.9%

6.0%

Net Margin

2.7%

2.5%

3.0%

2.8%

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

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