Littelfuse (Nasdaq: LFUS) beat estimates by $0.15 last quarter and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, February 7. Littelfuse and its subsidiaries design, manufacture, and sell circuit protection devices for use in the automotive, electronic, and electrical markets throughout the world.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Littelfuse with four of six analysts rating it hold. Analysts like Littelfuse better than competitor Powell Industries overall. One out of four analysts rate Powell Industries a buy compared to two of six for Littelfuse.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $145.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 2.1% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.64 per share. Estimates range from $0.61 to $0.68.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are in strong support of the stock, with 100% awarding it an "outperform" rating. Most of the community agrees with the All-Stars, with 96.8% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Littelfuse, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 32 posts in the past 30 days. Littelfuse has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Littelfuse's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 34.5% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's get some insight into how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins serve as an illustration of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. For four quarters in a row, the company has seen increases in net margins year-over-year. Net margins reflect what percentage of revenue becomes profit. Here are Littelfuse's reported margins for the last four quarters: 

Quarter Q3 Q2 Q1 Q4
Gross Margin 39.4% 39.6% 38.7% 37.8%
Operating Margin 17% 20% 18.5% 17%
Net Margin 14.3% 14.3% 12.9% 13.7%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.