Duke Realty (NYSE: DRE) only managed to meet estimates last quarter, but investors hope that it will surpass expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. Duke Realty is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, which provides on a fee basis, leasing, property and asset management, development, construction, build-to-suit and other tenant-related services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Duke Realty, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts like Duke Realty better than competitor Liberty Property overall. Four out of 14 analysts rate Liberty Property a buy compared to six of 14 for Duke Realty. 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 $237.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 10.3% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.28 per share. Estimates range from $0.27 to $0.30.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 90.6% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 81.9% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Duke Realty, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 90 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Duke Realty, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Over the last four quarters, revenue has increased 11.7% on average year over year.

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 net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Net Margin

16.5%

8.5%

13.2%

-5.3%

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