After beating estimates last quarter by $0.16, Hanesbrands (NYSE: HBI) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, July 20. Hanesbrands is a consumer-goods company with a portfolio of apparel brands. It designs, manufactures, sources and sells a range of apparel essentials such as T-shirts, innerwear, casualwear, activewear, socks, and hosiery.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Hanesbrands, with six of nine rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Hanesbrands better than competitor Warnaco Group overall. While analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, they are a little more optimistic about it compared with three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.22 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 13% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.86 per share. Estimates range from $0.85 to $0.88.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 85.3% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 81.1% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Hanesbrands, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 96 posts in the past 30 days. Hanesbrands' bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Hanesbrands' income has fallen year over year by an average of more than sevenfold. Revenue has now gone up for three straight 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 34.2% 30.3% 31% 34.8%
Operating Margin 9.8% 7.1% 9.7% 11.4%
Net Margin 4.6% 2.4% 5.2% 7.9%
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