Cousins Properties (NYSE: CUZ) only managed to meet estimates last quarter, but investors hope that it will surpass expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. Cousins Properties is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that develops, manages, and owns land development projects.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Cousins Properties, with three of five rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Cousins Properties better than competitor Colonial Properties overall. Analysts' rating of Cousins Properties has stayed constant from three months prior.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $37.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 2.6% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.11 per share. Estimates range from $0.11 to $0.12.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 80% granting it an outperform rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 76.7% awarding it a rating of outperform. Fools are keen on Cousins Properties, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 51 posts in the past 30 days. Cousins Properties' bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
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 net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Net Margin

(3.3%)

(9.5%)

(12.8%)

(9.8%)

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