Teleflex (NYSE: TFX) 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 Thursday, Feb. 23. Teleflex is a global provider of medical technology products that enable healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes, reduce infections, and enhance patient and provider safety.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Teleflex with five of eight analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Teleflex as much as competitor Cooper Companies overall. Five out of eight analysts rate Cooper a buy compared to three of eight for Teleflex. 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 $404.4 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 18% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.22 per share. Estimates range from $1.20 to $1.23.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly backing the stock, with 93.3% granting it an "outperform" rating. The greater community backs the All-Stars, as 92.7% give it a rating of "outperform." Even with a robust four out of five stars, Teleflex's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Teleflex's profit has risen year over year by an average of 62.4% over the past five quarters. Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters.

Now, a look at how efficient management has been at running the business. Traditionally, margins serve as an illustration of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. Teleflex has seen increasing gross margin year over year for the last three quarters. Gross margin reflects the total sales revenue retained after costs. See how Teleflex has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

47.9%

47.0%

45.3%

39.5%

Operating Margin

17.0%

14.5%

14.0%

12.1%

Net Margin

11.7%

8.7%

20.0%

17.0%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.