Investors hope Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by 11 cents in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, October 18. Harley-Davidson manufactures heavyweight motorcycles as well as motorcycle parts and accessories. .

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: The majority of analysts back Harley-Davidson as a buy. But with 60% of analysts rating it a buy, Harley-Davidson is still below the mean analyst rating of its nearest nine competitors, which average 80% buys. Analysts still rate the stock a Moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.29 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 18.3% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 74 cents per share. Estimates range from 60 cents to 81 cents.

What our community says:
 CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 84.8% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars with 78.1% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Harley-Davidson and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 925 posts in the past 30 days. Harley-Davidson's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
 The company's revenue has now risen for two 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

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

42.1%

41.9%

40.4%

43.9%

Operating Margin

20.1%

15.8%

3.4%

12.1%

Net Margin

12.7%

9.7%

-4.3%

7.1%

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