Bio-Reference Laboratories Earnings Preview

Watch Bio-Reference Laboratories' (Nasdaq: BRLI  ) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Feb. 23. Bio-Reference Labs is engaged in providing clinical laboratory testing services, mainly to customers in the greater New York metropolitan area as well as to customers in a number of other states.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Bio-Reference Laboratories while the remaining half rate the stock as a buy. Analysts don't like Bio-Reference Laboratories as much as competitor MEDTOX Scientific overall. Two out of two analysts rate MEDTOX Scientific a buy compared to two out of four for Bio-Reference Laboratories. Bio-Reference Laboratories' rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $143.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 17.6% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.21 per share. Estimates range from $0.20 to $0.21.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 99% granting it an outperform rating. The greater community backs the All-Stars, as 94.8% give it a rating of outperform. Fools feel positively about Bio-Reference Laboratories, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only one post in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Bio-Reference Laboratories' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Bio-Reference Laboratories' profit has risen year over year by an average of 45.6% over the past five quarters.

Now let's get some insight into how efficient management is at running the business. Margins are a representation of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. Bio-Reference Laboratories' net margins, which reflect what percentage of revenue becomes profit, have been rising year over year for the last four quarters. Here are Bio-Reference Laboratories' reported margins for the last four quarters:

Quarter	Q4	Q3	Q2	Q1
Gross Margin	49.5%	49.6%	47.7%	46.7%
Operating Margin	12.8%	12.4%	9.7%	7.2%
Net Margin	6.9%	6.8%	5.7%	6.6%

For all our Bio-Reference Laboratories-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Bio-Reference Laboratories to My Watchlist.

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.