Zebra Technologies Earnings Preview

Watch Zebra Technologies' (Nasdaq: ZBRA  ) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Zebra Technologies designs, manufactures, sells, and supports direct-thermal and thermal-transfer label printers, radio frequency identification printer/encoders, and dye sublimation card printers.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Zebra Technologies, with five of seven analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Zebra Technologies as much as competitor Intermec overall. Three out of six analysts rate Intermec a buy compared to two out of seven for Zebra Technologies. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $251.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 2.1% 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 $0.63.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 93.3% giving it an outperform rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 93% granting it a rating of outperform. Fools are gung-ho about Zebra Technologies, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 60 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Zebra Technologies' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

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	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Gross Margin	50.6%	49.8%	48.2%	47.2%
Operating Margin	18.7%	16.3%	15.8%	13.9%
Net Margin	26%	11.4%	10.6%	9.6%

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