Watch Community Health Systems' (NYSE: CYH) 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. Community Health Systems provides health-care services through hospitals it owns and operates in non-urban and selected urban markets throughout the United States.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Community Health Systems with 12 of 22 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Community Health Systems as much as competitor Health Management Associates overall. Eighteen out of 24 analysts rate Health Management Associates a buy compared to nine of 22 for Community Health Systems. While analysts still rate the stock a Hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $3.47 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 9.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 79 cents per share. Estimates range from 71 cents to 83 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 95.2% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars with 91.2% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Community Health Systems, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 43 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Community Health Systems, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Community Health Systems' profit has risen year over year by an average of 7.5%. Revenue has now gone up for three 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

45.2%

45.8%

46.3%

46.2%

Operating Margin

8.3%

8.3%

8.6%

8.8%

Net Margin

1.8%

2%

2.2%

2.2%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Community Health Systems movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.

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