Watch Nordson's (Nasdaq: NDSN) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, August 18. Nordson's is a manufacturer of equipment used for precision material dispensing, testing and inspection, surface preparation and curing.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Nordson with five of eight analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Nordson as much as competitor Pall overall. Five out of 11 analysts rate Pall a buy compared to three of eight for Nordson. 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 $323 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 15.7% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 88 cents per share. Estimates range from 83 cents to 92 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 97.6% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars with 94.5% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Nordson, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 40 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Nordson's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Nordson's profit has risen year over year by an average of 44.5% over the past five 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

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

62%

61.3%

58.7%

59.4%

Operating Margin

29%

24.2%

25.3%

24.3%

Net Margin

20.5%

16.9%

18.5%

19.8%

For all our Nordson-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Nordson to My Watchlist.

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