Hillenbrand (NYSE: HI) beat estimates by $0.03 last quarter, and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, Aug. 1. Hillenbrand Inc. manufactures and supplies burial caskets, cremation products, and related services to licensed funeral homes.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of Hillenbrand for the past three months.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $214 million 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 $0.39 per share.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 100% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 98.7% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Hillenbrand, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 84 posts in the past 30 days. Hillenbrand has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community's assessment.

Management:
Hillenbrand's income has fallen year over year by an average of 13.6%.

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 Q2 Q1 Q4 Q3
Gross Margin 44.3% 43.2% 41.8% 36.7%
Operating Margin 20.8% 20% 16.4% 9.6%
Net Margin 14.3% 12.8% 9.5% 6.5%
One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Hillenbrand's movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.