Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that Brunswick (NYSE: BC) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. Brunswick is a global manufacturer and marketer of recreation products including boats, marine engines, fitness equipment, and bowling and billiards equipment.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Brunswick, with four of six rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of Brunswick for the past three months.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.05 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 4% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 48 cents per share. Estimates range from 29 cents to 54 cents.

What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All Stars see Brunswick as an OK bet, with 60.6% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large is divided, though -- 53.8% Fools granting it an "outperform" rating and 46.2% an "underperform" rating. Brunswick also has a bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars.

Management:
The company increased its gross margin by 2.8 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 16.8% while cost of sales rose 12.6% to $749.6 million 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

24%

15.9%

22.5%

23.9%

Operating Margin

6.8%

-10.2%

3.1%

5.5%

Net Margin

2.8%

-14.3%

-0.9%

1.4%

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

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