Finish Line Earnings Preview

After beating estimates last quarter by $0.01, Finish Line (Nasdaq: FINL  ) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. Finish line is an athletic footwear store offering large selection of performance and athletic casual shoes, as well as apparel and accessories.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Finish Line, with seven of eight rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Finish Line better than competitor Collective Brands overall. While analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $272.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 4.5% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.11 per share. Estimates range from $0.09 to $0.12.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are split on Finish Line, with 52% rating it an outperform and 48% giving it an underperform rating. Fools are keen on Finish Line and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 140 posts in the past 30 days. Finish Line's bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Finish Line's profit has risen year over year by an average of 4.8% 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	Q2	Q1	Q4	Q3
Gross Margin	35.1%	34.5%	36%	31.4%
Operating Margin	10.2%	8.9%	14.0%	2.5%
Net Margin	6.3%	5.5%	8.9%	1.6%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks