After beating estimates last quarter by 6 cents, PetSmart (Nasdaq: PETM) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, August 17. PetSmart is a specialty provider of products, services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. The company offers a line of products for all the life stages of pets, and offers various pet services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back PetSmart, with 10 of 19 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts don't like PetSmart as much as competitor Ulta Salon overall. 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 $1.48 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 6.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 50 cents per share. Estimates range from 48 cents to 53 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 97.4% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars with 93.7% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about PetSmart and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 244 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, PetSmart's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
PetSmart's profit has risen year over year by an average of 23% over the past five quarters. 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

29.6%

30.6%

28%

28.5%

Operating Margin

8.2%

9.9%

6%

6.6%

Net Margin

4.8%

5.9%

3.3%

3.5%

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

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