New Jersey Resources Corps Earnings Preview

New Jersey Resources Corps (NYSE: NJR  ) didn't hit the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors hope that it will rebound this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, February 7. New Jersey Resources is an energy services holding company providing retail and wholesale energy services to customers in states from the Gulf Coast to New England, including the Mid-Continent region, the West Coast, and Canada.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bearish on New Jersey Resources Corps as three analysts rate it as a sell and only two analysts rate it as a buy. While analysts still rate the stock a Hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $742.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 4.1% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.74 per share. Estimates range from $0.70 to $0.83.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are strongly backing the stock, with 90.3% giving it an "outperform" rating. The greater community concurs with the All Stars, as 85.5% give it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced New Jersey Resources Corps, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 23 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of New Jersey Resources Corps, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 2.8 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 6.2% while cost of sales rose 9.3% to $669.1 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 and net margins over the past four quarters. 

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.