TTM Technologies Earnings Preview

While TTM Technologies (Nasdaq: TTMI  ) missed estimates last quarter, investors hope that it will bounce back and outpace Wall Street expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, Nov. 2. TTM Technologies is a manufacturer of complex printed circuit boards used in sophisticated electronic equipment. The company provides backplane and sub-system assembly services for both standard and specialty products in defense and commercial operations.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts like TTM Technologies better than competitor Plexus overall. Three out of seven analysts rate Plexus a buy compared to six of six for TTM Technologies. Analysts' rating of TTM Technologies has stayed constant from three months prior.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $374.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 4.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.37 per share. Estimates range from $0.36 to $0.37.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 98.8% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 97.2% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on TTM Technologies and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 147 posts in the past 30 days. TTM Technologies has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
The company raised its gross margin by 2.7 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 18% while cost of sales rose 14.1% to $288.8 million from a year earlier.

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	21.1%	23.9%	24.1%	22.5%
Operating Margin	(2.3%)	13.3%	14.1%	12.8%
Net Margin	(5.7%)	7.9%	8.8%	8.1%

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