While American Public Education (Nasdaq: APEI) missed estimates last quarter, investors hope that it will bounce back and outpace Wall Street expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 2. The company is a provider of online post-secondary education with an emphasis on serving the needs of the military and public service communities.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to American Public Education, with half rating the stock a hold. Analysts don't like American Public Education as much as competitor Grand Canyon Education overall. Seven out of 10 analysts rate Grand Canyon Education a buy compared to seven of 14 for American Public Education. 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 $59.5 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 28.6% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.45 per share. Estimates range from $0.43 to $0.46.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 98% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars, with 95.9% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about American Public Education, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 59 posts in the past 30 days. American Public Education has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
American Public Education's profit has risen year over year by an average of 15.3%.

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

62.3%

63.7%

59.7%

62.4%

Operating Margin

22.3%

28.1%

19.3%

25.4%

Net Margin

13.4%

17.1%

11.6%

15.2%

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

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