Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Friday, Oct. 21. Manpower is in the employment services industry. Its five brands are Manpower, Manpower Professional, Elan, Jefferson Wells, and Right Management. The company provides a range of services for the entire employment and business cycle.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: The majority of analysts back ManpowerGroup as a buy. But with 75% of analysts rating it a buy, ManpowerGroup is still below the mean analyst rating of its nearest 10 competitors, which average 76.3% buys. Analysts don't like ManpowerGroup as much as competitor Robert Half International overall. Out of 13 analysts, 10 rate Robert Half International a buy compared to nine of 12 for ManpowerGroup. While analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $5.82 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 17.1% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.95 per share. Estimates range from $0.88 to $0.98.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 90.6% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 86.6% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about ManpowerGroup, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 76 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of ManpowerGroup, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
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 Q2 Q1 Q4 Q3
Gross Margin 17.0% 16.9% 17.4% 16.9%
Operating Margin 2.7% 1.7% (6.6%) 2.2%
Net Margin 1.3% 0.7% (6.7%) 1.0%

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