Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) will look to avoid missing estimates for the fourth consecutive quarter when its earnings are released. The company will unveil its latest earnings Wednesday. Boyd Gaming owns and operates casinos located in Nevada, Mississippi, Illinois, Louisiana, and Indiana.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Boyd Gaming, with 12 of 20 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Boyd Gaming as much as competitor Ameristar Casinos overall. Nine out of 15 analysts rate Ameristar Casinos a buy compared with seven of 20 for Boyd Gaming. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared with three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $578.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 0.1% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.02 per share. Estimates range from a loss of $0.01 to a profit of $0.06.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 88.9% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 86.9% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Boyd Gaming and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 171 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Boyd Gaming, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:

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

44.6%

43.8%

44.6%

44.9%

Operating Margin

8.5%

6.5%

9.2%

8.6%

Net Margin

-0.6%

-1.3%

0.9%

0.6%

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