Investors braced for a bumpy ride ahead of Broadridge Financial Solutions' (NYSE: BR) earnings announcement, as the company has wavered between beating and falling short of analyst predictions during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, August 11. Broadridge Financial Solutions is a global provider of investor communication, securities processing, and clearing and outsourcing solutions to the financial services industry.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Broadridge Financial Solutions while the remaining half rate the stock as a buy. Analysts like Broadridge Financial Solutions better than competitor CoreLogic overall. Two out of seven analysts rate CoreLogic a buy compared to two of four for Broadridge Financial Solutions. Wall Street has warmed to the stock over the past three months, with analysts increasing their endorsement from hold to moderate buy.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $771 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 2.7% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.91 per share. Estimates range from $0.90 to $0.94.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 100% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars, with 96% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Broadridge Financial Solutions, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 65 posts in the past 30 days. Broadridge Financial Solutions has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Broadridge Financial Solutions' income has fallen year over year by an average of 27.4% over the past five quarters. A year-over-year revenue increase last quarter snaps a streak of two consecutive quarters of revenue declines. Revenue rose 7.4% in the third quarter and fell 16.4% in the second quarter and 7.8% in the first quarter.

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

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Net Margin

5.6%

2.4%

3.2%

14.0%

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