Watch Panera Bread's (Nasdaq: PNRA) earnings report to see whether it can beat analyst expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday. Panera Bread and its subsidiaries operate a retail bakery-cafe business and franchising business under the concept names Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co., and Paradise Bakery & Cafe.

What analysts say

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Panera Bread, with 11 of 18 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Panera Bread better than competitor Wendy's/Arby's Group overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $449.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 18.8% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.17 per share. Estimates range from $1.14 to $1.19.

What our community says
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 91.5% giving it an outperform rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 87.4% granting it a rating of outperform. Fools are gung-ho about Panera Bread and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 521 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Panera Bread, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Panera Bread's profit has risen year over year by an average of 25.9%.

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

23.6%

25.5%

20.9%

23.3%

Operating Margin

12.6%

14.2%

9.7%

12.2%

Net Margin

7.8%

8.5%

6.1%

7.1%

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