After beating estimates last quarter by 5 cents, Park Electrochemical (NYSE: PKE) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, June 27. Park Electrochemical develops, manufactures, markets, and sells high-technology digital and RF/microwave printed circuit materials products principally for the telecommunications and Internet infrastructure and high-end computing markets.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts like Park Electrochemical, with two of three analysts rating it a buy.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $52.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 11.7% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst is estimating earnings of 41 cents per share. Estimates range from 40 cents to 42 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 100% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars with 94.8% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Park Electrochemical, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 27 posts in the past 30 days. Park's CAPS rating of five out of five stars is as bullish as the Fool community assessment.

Management:
The company has now seen net income fall in each of the last two quarters. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, net income fell 20% from the year-earlier quarter. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, revenue rose 1.6% to $51.2 million while the figure rose 1.8% in third quarter from the year earlier. The company's gross margin shrank by two percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 1.6% while cost of sales rose 4.8% to $34.3 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 Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1
Gross Margin 33.1% 30.9% 33.6% 34.2%
Net Margin 16.2% 10.7% 17.3% 16.7%

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