Prestige Brands Holdings Earnings Preview

Investors braced for a bumpy ride ahead of Prestige Brands Holdings' (NYSE: PBH) earnings announcement as the company has wavered between beating and falling short of analyst predictions during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, August 4. Prestige Brands Holdings sells well-recognized, brand name, over-the-counter health-care, household cleaning, and personal care products in a global marketplace.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts generally think investors should hang on to Prestige Brands Holdings, with half rating the stock a hold. Prestige Brands Holdings' rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $95.4 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 29.9% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.23 per share. Estimates range from $0.21 to $0.29.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 96.4% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All Stars, with 93.9% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Prestige Brands Holdings, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 46 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Prestige Brands Holdings' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Prestige Brands Holdings' profit has risen year over year by an average of 10.5%. The company's revenue has now risen for two 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:

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

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