Investors braced for a bumpy ride ahead of International Speedway's (Nasdaq: ISCA) earnings announcement as the company has wavered between beating and falling short of analyst predictions during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 7. International Speedway is an owner of major motorsports entertainment facilities and promoter of motorsports-themed entertainment activities in the United States.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to International Speedway, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts don't like International Speedway as much as competitor Churchill Downs overall. Two out of four analysts rate Churchill Downs a buy, compared to two of six for International Speedway. International Speedway's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $138.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 2.8% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 27 cents per share. Estimates range from $0.25 to $0.28.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 92.2% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars with 86.8% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced International Speedway, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 62 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of International Speedway, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
International Speedway's income has fallen year over year by an average of 24.3%. Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters.

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. 

Quarter Q1 Q4 Q3 Q2
Gross Margin 56.2% 48.1% 42% 69.1%
Operating Margin 26.5% 20.7% 13.5% 15%
Net Margin 14.4% 8% 2.3% 7.2%

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