Watch AGCO's (NYSE: AGCO) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. AGCO is a manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and related replacement parts worldwide. The company sells a range of agricultural equipment, including tractors, combines, self-propelled sprayers, and hay tools.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on AGCO with seven of 11 analysts rating it hold. Analysts still rate the stock a Hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $2.26 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 29.9% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.13 per share. Estimates range from 92 cents to $1.35.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 91.6% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars with 90.8% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced AGCO, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 98 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of AGCO, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
AGCO's profit has risen year over year by an average of more than fourfold. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. The company increased its gross margin by 2.9 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 35.3% while cost of sales rose 30.6% to $1.44 billion from a year earlier.

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

19.8%

18.9%

18.3%

18.4%

Operating Margin

6%

6.6%

4.6%

5.5%

Net Margin

4.5%

3.9%

3.8%

3.6%

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