Christopher & Banks Earnings Preview

After beating estimates last quarter by 7 cents, Christopher & Banks (NYSE: CBK) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, June 30. Christopher & Banks operates retail stores selling women's apparel in the United States.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Christopher & Banks -- the stock is a unanimous hold. Analysts don't like Christopher & Banks as much as competitor Talbots overall. Four out of 11 analysts rate Talbots a buy compared to zero of four for Christopher & Banks. Christopher & Banks' rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $116.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is a loss of 6 cents per share. Estimates range from a loss of 8 cents to a loss of 3 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 90.7% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars with 86.3% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Christopher & Banks, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 75 posts in the past 30 days. Christopher & Banks' bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Christopher & Banks' profit has risen year over year by an average of 56.5%. Revenue has fallen in the past two quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by nine percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue fell 2.2% while cost of sales rose 10.8% to $76.8 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, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

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