Perrigo Earnings Preview

Investors are on the edge of their seats, hoping that Perrigo (Nasdaq: PRGO  ) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Tuesday, Feb. 7. Perrigo is a global health-care supplier that develops, manufactures, and distributes over-the-counter and generic prescription pharmaceuticals, nutritional products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical diagnostic products.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on Perrigo as seven analysts rate it as a buy and only one analyst rates it as a sell. Analysts don't like Perrigo as much as competitor Mylan Laboratories overall. 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 $809.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 12.9% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.16 per share. Estimates range from $1.12 to $1.20.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly backing the stock, with 94.8% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The greater community concurs with the All-Stars, as 93.6% give it a rating of "outperform." Fools are impressed with Perrigo and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 121 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Perrigo, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Perrigo's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 47.8% over the past five 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	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Gross Margin	31.4%	34.4%	34.6%	34.8%
Operating Margin	14.0%	17.5%	17.8%	18.4%
Net Margin	9.7%	12.1%	12.9%	12.6%

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

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

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.