FactSet Research Systems Earnings Preview

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS  ) hasn't been able to establish an earnings trend, bouncing between beating and falling short of estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, Dec. 13. FactSet Research Systems is a provider of integrated global financial and economic information, including fundamental financial data on tens of thousands of companies worldwide.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on FactSet Research Systems, with five of six analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like FactSet Research Systems as much as competitor IHS overall. Six out of nine analysts rate IHS a buy compared to one of six for FactSet Research Systems. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained unchanged in their opinion of the stock.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $197.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 13.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.00 per share. Estimates range from $0.99 to $1.00.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 98.6% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 96.6% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about FactSet Research Systems and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 114 posts in the past 30 days. FactSet Research Systems has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
FactSet Research Systems' profit has risen year over year by an average of 14.1% over the past five quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 2.1 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 14.1% while cost of sales rose 21.4% to $65.5 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.

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.