Actuant (NYSE: ATU) only managed to meet estimates last quarter, but investors hope that it will surpass expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, June 16. Actuant is a global manufacturer and marketer of a range of industrial products and systems. The company is organized into four operating and reportable segments as follows: Industrial, Energy, Electrical, and Engineered Solutions.
What analysts say:
- Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are lukewarm on Actuant, with eight of 14 analysts rating it a buy.
- Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $379.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 13.3% from the year-ago quarter.
- Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst is estimating earnings of 46 cents per share. Estimates range from 43 cents to 47 cents.
What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 99.5% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars with 98.2% granting it a rating of "outperform." The CAPS rating of five out of five stars for Actuant is on par with the bullish community assessment.
Management:
The company's revenue has now risen for two straight quarters. In the second quarter of the last fiscal year, revenue increased 4.3% to $330.7 million from the year earlier quarter. The company boosted its gross margin by 3.2 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 12.4% while cost of sales rose 6.8% to $205.7 million from a year earlier.
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 following table shows gross and net margins over the past four quarters.
| Quarter | Q2 | Q1 | Q4 | Q3 |
| Gross Margin | 37.8% | 38.3% | 42.9% | 36.4% |
| Net Margin | 2.4% | 8.1% | -7.4% | 6.5% |
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