Investors never know what to expect for iGATE (Nasdaq: IGTE), as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. iGATE is a provider of information technology and IT-enabled operations offshore outsourcing solutions services to large and medium-size organizations.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back iGATE, with six of eight rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like iGATE better than competitor Patni Computer Systems 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 $268.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 231.9% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.21 per share. Estimates range from $0.18 to $0.23.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 95.1% awarding it an outperform rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 96.7% assigning it a rating of outperform. Fools have embraced iGATE, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 68 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, iGATE's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
iGATE's profit has risen year over year by an average of 15.2% over the past five quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 2.4 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 255% while cost of sales rose 269.3% to $167.6 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.

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

36.9%

34.7%

40.9%

42.7%

Operating Margin

14.2%

5.7%

9.2%

19.0%

Net Margin

5.4%

2.3%

23.7%

18.2%

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

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..

Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.