Saks (NYSE: SKS) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Tuesday. Saks is a fashion retail organization offering an assortment of luxury fashion apparel, shoes, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics, and gifts.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Saks with six of 10 analysts rating it a hold. Analysts don't like Saks as much as competitor Bon-Ton Stores overall. One out of three analysts rate Bon-Ton Stores a buy compared with three of 10 for Saks. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared with three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $661.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 11.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is a loss of $0.09 per share. Estimates range from a loss of $0.10 to a loss of $0.08.

What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All-Stars see Saks as a good bet, with 75% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The majority of the Fools are in agreement with the All Stars as 74.7% give it an "outperform" rating. Fools are keen on Saks and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 173 posts in the past 30 days. Saks' bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
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.

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Gross Margin

44.1%

37.8%

42.6%

37.3%

Operating Margin

8.3%

6.6%

4.8%

(7.5%)

Net Margin

3.9%

2.9%

5.5%

(5.4%)

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