ION Geophysical Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for ION Geophysical (NYSE: IO  ) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, Nov. 2. ION Geophysical is a technology-focused seismic solutions company that provides advanced seismic data acquisition equipment, seismic software, and seismic planning, processing, and interpretation services to the global energy industry.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts like ION Geophysical better than competitor Dawson Geophysical Company overall. Three out of four analysts rate Dawson Geophysical Company a buy compared to three of three for ION Geophysical.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $123.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 1.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.07 per share. Estimates range from $0.04 to $0.08.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 97.2% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 95.4% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on ION Geophysical and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 237 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of ION Geophysical, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
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	Q2	Q1	Q4	Q3
Gross Margin	38.0%	34.4%	41.8%	40.3%
Operating Margin	9.9%	6.7%	21.7%	19.2%
Net Margin	3.3%	0.5%	12.9%	10.0%

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