Investors hope Silgan Holdings (Nasdaq: SLGN) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by $0.02 in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. Silgan Holdings is a manufacturer of metal and plastic consumer goods packaging products.

What analysts say

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Silgan Holdings, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts don't like Silgan Holdings as much as competitor Sonoco Products overall. Six out of 11 analysts rate Sonoco Products a buy compared to four of eight for Silgan Holdings.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $814 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 17.3% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.55 per share. Estimates range from $0.53 to $0.58.

What our community says
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 100% giving it an outperform rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 98.9% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Silgan Holdings, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 38 posts in the past 30 days. Silgan Holdings has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management
Silgan Holdings' income has fallen year over year by an average of 9.8%. The company's revenue has now risen for two 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

14.5%

13.8%

16.2%

15.7%

Operating Margin

7.6%

5.4%

12.1%

9.7%

Net Margin

3.7%

2.3%

6.5%

5.2%

For all our Silgan Holdings-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Silgan Holdings to My Watchlist.

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