Omnicell Earnings Preview (OMCL)

Omnicell Earnings Preview

By Motley Fool Staff | More Articles
January 24, 2012 | Comments (0)

Investors are on the edges of their seats, hoping that Omnicell (Nasdaq: OMCL ) will top analyst expectations for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Jan. 26. Omnicell develops, markets, sells, and supports medication and supply dispensing systems principally to the healthcare industry.

What analysts say:

Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts like Omnicell better than competitor MedAssets overall. Eleven out of 22 analysts rate MedAssets a buy compared to six of six for Omnicell. 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 $63.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 10.3% from the year-ago quarter.
Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.08 per share. Estimates range from $0.08 to $0.09.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 92.7% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 94.2% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Omnicell, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 68 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Omnicell, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Omnicell's profit has risen year over year by an average of 38.9% 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	Q3	Q2	Q1	Q4
Gross Margin	53.5%	55.4%	55.4%	54.8%
Operating Margin	7.4%	6.9%	1.8%	2.7%
Net Margin	4.6%	4.2%	1.2%	1.2%

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

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