HNI Earnings Preview

After beating estimates last quarter by $0.14, HNI (NYSE: HNI  ) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings Tuesday, Feb. 7. HNI is a provider of office furniture and health products.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on HNI with four of five analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like HNI as much as competitor Herman Miller overall. Two out of four analysts rate Herman Miller a buy compared to one of five for HNI. Analysts' rating of HNI has stayed constant from three months prior.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $491.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.4% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.40 per share. Estimates range from $0.39 to $0.41.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are in strong support of the stock, with 88.2% granting it an "outperform" rating. The majority of the Fools agree with the All-Stars, with 74.5% giving it an "outperform" rating. Fools are keen on HNI, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 26 posts in the past 30 days. HNI's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
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	35.6%	33.9%	34.0%	35.2%
Operating Margin	8.0%	2.4%	0.2%	4.4%
Net Margin	4.9%	1.1%	(0.4%)	2.7%

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

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.