Dick's Sporting Goods Earnings Preview

Watch Dick's Sporting Goods' (NYSE: DKS) earnings report to see whether it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, Aug. 16. Dick's Sporting Goods is an authentic full-line sporting goods retailer offering an assortment of brand-name sporting-goods equipment, apparel, and footwear in a specialty-store environment.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on this stock, with 16 analysts rating it as a buy and only one rating it as a sell. Analysts like Dick's Sporting Goods better than competitor Cabela's overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared with three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.33 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 8.1% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.50 per share. Estimates range from $0.48 to $0.53.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 88.7% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 87.1% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Dick's Sporting Goods and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 162 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Dick's Sporting Goods, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Dick's Sporting Goods' profit has risen year over year by an average of 23.7% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three 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 Dick's Sporting Goods' movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.