Investors never know what to expect for II-VI (Nasdaq: IIVI), as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, April 24. II-VI develops, manufactures and markets products for a diversified customer base including industrial manufacturing, military and aerospace, electronics and telecommunications, and thermo-electronics applications.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: The majority of analysts back II-VI as a buy. But with 60% of analysts rating it a buy, II-VI is still below the mean analyst rating of its nearest 10 competitors, which average 69% buys. Analysts don't like II-VI as much as competitor Newport overall. Six out of seven analysts rate Newport a buy compared to three of five for II-VI. Analysts' rating of II-VI has stayed constant from three months prior.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $134.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 3.3% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.25 per share. Estimates range from $0.24 to $0.27.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are enthusiastically backing the stock, with 98.9% assigning it an "outperform" rating. Most of the community backs the All-Stars, with 98.3% granting it a rating of "outperform." II-VI has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
II-VI's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 33.2% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 7.1 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 4.9% while cost of sales rose 17.6% to $83.3 million from a year earlier.

Now, a look at how efficient management has been at running the business. Margins illustrate how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. II-VI's gross margins have decreased year-over-year for the last three quarters. Gross margins reflect the total sales revenue retained after costs. See how II-VI has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

34.3%

39.8%

41.6%

40.7%

Operating Margin

12.4%

17.8%

19.5%

19.7%

Net Margin

10.5%

13.4%

16.7%

17.8%

For all our II-VI-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add II-VI to My Watchlist.