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Motley Fool Staff
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February 13, 2012
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Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that Pool (Nasdaq: POOL ) will top analyst expectations for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, February 16. SCP Pool sells swimming pool equipment, parts, supplies, and irrigation and landscape products to pool builders, retail stores, service companies, landscape contractors, and golf courses.
What analysts say:
- Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Pool with six of nine analysts rating it hold. Analysts still rate the stock a Hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
- Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $258.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 7.2% from the year-ago quarter.
- Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is a loss of $0.22 per share. Estimates range from a loss of $0.25 to a loss of $0.19.
What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All-Stars see POOL as a good bet, with 72% giving it an "outperform" rating. The majority of the Fools are in agreement with the All-Stars, as 68.9% give it an "outperform" rating. Fools have embraced Pool and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 119 posts in the past 30 days. Pool'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, a look at how efficient management has been at running the business. Margins illustrate how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. Pool's gross margins, which reflect the total sales revenue retained after costs, have been rising year-over-year for the last four quarters. Here are Pool's reported margins for the last four quarters:
| Quarter |
Q3 |
Q2 |
Q1 |
Q4 |
| Gross Margin |
29.4% |
29.9% |
29.2% |
30.5% |
| Operating Margin |
8.1% |
13.9% |
0.2% |
-7% |
| Net Margin |
4.8% |
8.3% |
-0.2% |
-4.9% |
For all our Pool-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Pool to My Watchlist.
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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.
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