Investors never know what to expect for J&J Snack Foods (Nasdaq: JJSF), as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday. J&J Snack Foods manufactures, markets, and distributes snack foods and drinks to the food service and retail supermarket industries.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to J&J Snack Foods, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts don't like J&J Snack Foods as much as competitor Lance overall. Seven out of 11 analysts rate Lance a buy compared with two of four for J&J Snack Foods. The company's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $204.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 7.6% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.84 per share. Estimates range from $0.82 to $0.87.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 98.2% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 96.2% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on J&J Snack Foods, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 48 posts in the past 30 days. J&J Snack Foods has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars, which is on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
J&J Snack Foods' profit has risen year over year by an average of 3.4%. 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 Q2 Q3 Q4
Gross Margin 29.6% 30.1% 34.3% 33.4%
Operating Margin 7.1% 8.6% 13.7% 12.4%
Net Margin 4.6% 5.3% 8.4% 8.2%

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