Medicis Pharmaceutical (NYSE: MRX) hasn't been able to establish an earnings trend, bouncing between beating and falling short of estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, Feb. 20. Medicis Pharmaceutical focuses on helping patients attain a healthy and youthful appearance and self-image through the development and marketing of products that treat dermatological and aesthetic conditions.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Medicis Pharmaceutical, with 10 out of 18 analysts rating it hold. Analysts like Medicis Pharmaceutical better than competitor Impax Laboratories overall. Five out of 12 analysts rate Impax Laboratories a buy compared to eight out of 18 for Medicis Pharmaceutical.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $178.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 1.8% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 54 per share. Estimates range from $0.49 to $0.58.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 95.8% granting it an outperform rating. The greater community concurs with the All-Stars, as 92.7% give it a rating of outperform. Fools are keen on Medicis Pharmaceutical, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 81 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Medicis Pharmaceutical, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Medicis Pharmaceutical's income has fallen year over year by an average of 33.6% over the past five quarters. The company's revenue has now risen for two 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 company's net margins have been decreasing year over year for the last four quarters. Net margins reflect what percentage of revenue becomes profit. Here is how Medicis Pharmaceutical has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

90.7%

90.4%

91.3%

89.2%

Operating Margin

19.5%

31.4%

26.9%

20.2%

Net Margin

10.5%

15.1%

11.7%

13.1%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.