QLogic (Nasdaq: QLGC) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. QLogic is a designer and supplier of network infrastructure products that enhance, manage, and support the transmission of data from computer servers to storage systems and from computer servers to other servers.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on QLogic -- seven analysts rate it a buy and only two analysts rate it as a sell. Analysts like QLogic better than competitor Emulex overall. Analysts are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $150 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 5.2% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 26 cents per share. Estimates range from 25 cents to 29 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 98.8% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars with 93.6% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about QLogic, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 66 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of QLogic, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. 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 Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1
Gross Margin 66.6% 66% 65.6% 65.1%
Operating Margin 23.6% 26% 23.8% 19.9%
Net Margin 21.9% 32.3% 20.5% 17.8%

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