Prestige Brands Earnings Preview

Prestige Brands Holdings (NYSE: PBH  ) 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 Thursday, Nov. 10. Prestige Brands sells well-recognized, brand name, over-the-counter healthcare, household cleaning, and personal care products in a global marketplace.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Prestige Brands with three of five analysts rating it hold. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $104.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 33.7% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.26 per share. Estimates range from $0.25 to $0.28.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 95.9% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 93.7% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Prestige Brands, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 46 posts in the past 30 days. Prestige Brands has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Prestige Brands' profit has risen year over year by an average of 20.1% over the past five quarters. 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	52.3%	48.1%	48.6%	54.4%
Operating Margin	28.6%	19.3%	14.4%	30.4%
Net Margin	15.5%	6.7%	2.4%	14.1%

For all our Prestige Brands-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Prestige Brands Holdings to My Watchlist.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.