Investors hope Brown Shoe Company (NYSE: BWS) will top analyst estimates once again after beating predictions by 3 cents in the previous quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, August 22. Brown Shoe Company is a footwear retailer and wholesaler, which provides an offering of licensed, branded and private-label casual, dress and athletic footwear products to women, men and children.
What analysts say:
- Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Brown Shoe Company while the remaining half rate the stock as a buy. Analysts don't like Brown Shoe Company as much as competitor Rocky Brands overall. Two out of two analysts rate Rocky Brands a buy compared to two of four for Brown Shoe Company. Analysts still rate the stock a Hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
- Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $642.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 9.6% from the year-ago quarter.
- Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.07 per share. Estimates range from breaking even to a profit of $0.10.
What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 81.8% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 79.7% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Brown Shoe Company, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 53 posts in the past 30 days. Brown Shoe Company's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.
Management:
Brown Shoe Company's income has fallen year over year by an average of 76.7% 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.
| Quarter | Q1 | Q4 | Q3 | Q2 |
| Gross Margin | 40% | 38.9% | 39.4% | 40.7% |
| Operating Margin | 2% | 1% | 4.6% | 2.1% |
| Net Margin | 0.6% | 0.6% | 2.6% | 0.9% |
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