Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that Manpower (NYSE: MAN) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Thursday. Manpower is in the employment services industry and provides a range of services for the entire employment and business cycle.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Manpower, with 11 of 13 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Manpower better than competitor Robert Half International overall. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steady in their opinion of the stock.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $5.54 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 20.7% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.79 per share. Estimates range from $0.74 to $0.82.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 91.3% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 86% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Manpower, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 75 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Manpower, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Manpower's income has fallen year over year by an average of more than threefold.

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

16.9%

17.4%

16.9%

17.4%

Operating Margin

1.7%

-6.6%

2.2%

1.7%

Net Margin

0.7%

-6.7%

1%

0.7%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Manpower movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your watchlist.

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