LivePerson Earnings Preview

LivePerson (Nasdaq: LPSN  ) came in under analyst estimates last quarter, but now have a chance to fix things this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Thursday. LivePerson provides online engagement solutions that facilitate real-time assistance and expert advice. Its hosted software platform creates more relevant, compelling, and personalized online experiences.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts like LivePerson better than competitor ServiceSource overall. Ten out of 11 analysts rate ServiceSource a buy compared with seven of seven for LivePerson.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $34.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 21.4% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.06 per share. Estimates range from $0.05 to $0.07.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 96.9% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 94.9% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about LivePerson and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 126 posts in the past 30 days. LivePerson has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
LivePerson's profit has risen year over year by an average of 24.5% over the past five 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	72.7%	73.4%	72.5%	73.1%
Operating Margin	10.6%	16.7%	13.7%	14.7%
Net Margin	6.9%	10.6%	9.2%	9.8%

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