Cytec Industries Earnings Preview

Watch Cytec Industries' (NYSE: CYT  ) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Oct. 20. Cytec Industries is a global specialty chemicals and materials company focused on developing, manufacturing, and selling value-added products.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Cytec Industries while the remaining half rate the stock as a buy. Analysts don't like Cytec Industries as much as competitor Huntsman overall. Four out of six analysts rate Huntsman a buy compared to two of four for Cytec Industries.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $762.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 8.9% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.82 per share. Estimates range from $0.76 to $0.85.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 93.5% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 89.1% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Cytec Industries, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 29 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Cytec Industries, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Cytec Industries' profit has risen year over year by an average of more than twofold over the past five quarters. Revenue has fallen for the past three 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	25.2%	23.6%	49.7%	21.4%
Operating Margin	8.4%	8.9%	4.6%	8.1%
Net Margin	4.4%	10.9%	19.2%	4.5%

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

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.