Medicis Pharmaceutical Earnings Preview

Medicis Pharmaceutical (NYSE: MRX  ) didn't hit the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors hope that it will rebound this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Medicis Pharmaceutical focuses on helping patients attain a healthy and youthful appearance and self-image through the development and marketing of products that treat dermatological and aesthetic conditions.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Medicis Pharmaceutical, with 11 out of 17 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Medicis Pharmaceutical better than competitor Impax Laboratories overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $187.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.61 per share. Estimates range from $0.57 to $0.65.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 93.2% assigning it an outperform rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 93.3% awarding it a rating of outperform. Fools are bullish on Medicis Pharmaceutical, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 79 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Medicis Pharmaceutical, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Medicis Pharmaceutical's income has fallen year over year by an average of 18.6% 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	90.4%	91.3%	89.2%	89.8%
Operating Margin	31.4%	26.9%	20.2%	30.5%
Net Margin	15.1%	11.7%	13.1%	15.6%

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