Forward Air Earnings Preview

Watch Forward Air's (Nasdaq: FWRD  ) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Tuesday. Forward Air provides surface transportation and related logistics services to the North American deferred air freight market.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on Forward Air as six analysts rate it as a buy and only one analyst rates it as a sell. Analysts don't like Forward Air as much as competitor United Parcel Service overall. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of Forward Air for the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $150.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 12.7% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.50 per share. Estimates range from $0.48 to $0.52.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are enthusiastically backing the stock, with 94.6% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The greater community backs the All-Stars, as 90.2% give it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Forward Air, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 44 posts in the past 30 days. Forward Air has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Forward Air's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 78.7% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now, a look at how efficient management has been at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The company's gross margins have been increasing year-over-year for the last four quarters. Gross margins reflect the total sales revenue retained after costs. See how Forward Air has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter	Q3	Q2	Q1	Q4
Gross Margin	45.1%	44.2%	42.5%	44.8%
Operating Margin	15%	15%	11.1%	14%
Net Margin	9.5%	9.1%	6.5%	8.9%

We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized service. Add Forward Air now.

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.