Synaptics Earnings Preview

Watch Synaptics' (Nasdaq: SYNA  ) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Oct. 20. Synaptics targets the personal computer market and the market for digital lifestyle products, including mobile smartphones and feature phones, portable digital music and video players, and other select electronic device markets.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on Synaptics as four analysts rate it as a buy and only three analysts rate it as a sell. Analysts don't like Synaptics as much as competitor Mercury Computer Systems overall. 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 $132.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 13.4% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.27 per share. Estimates range from $0.19 to $0.33.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 95.5% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 95.9% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Synaptics and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 284 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Synaptics' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Synaptics' profit has risen year over year by an average of 30.9% over the past five quarters. A year-over-year revenue decrease last quarter snaps a streak of three consecutive quarters of revenue increases.

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	Q4	Q3	Q2	Q1
Gross Margin	42.3%	40.5%	40.8%	41.0%
Operating Margin	11.4%	10.1%	12.2%	14.6%
Net Margin	9.7%	9.5%	11.1%	12.2%

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

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Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended writing covered calls in Synaptics. 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.