Investors are on the edges of their seats, hoping that BE Aerospace (Nasdaq: BEAV) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, Oct. 26. BE Aerospace is a manufacturer of cabin interior products for commercial aircraft and business jets and a distributor of aerospace fasteners and consumables.
What analysts say:
- Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back BE Aerospace, with 12 of 14 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like BE Aerospace better than competitor TransDigm Group overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
- Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $627.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 26.8% from the year-ago quarter.
- Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.55 per share. Estimates range from $0.52 to $0.57.
What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 97.6% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 96.5% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced BE Aerospace and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 180 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, BE Aerospace's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.
Management:
BE Aerospace's profit has risen year over year by an average of 25.8% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. The company upped its gross margin by 2.3 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 25.8% while cost of sales rose 21.4% to $375.8 million from a year earlier.
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 | 38.3% | 37.1% | 35.9% | 37.2% |
| Operating Margin | 17.5% | 16.7% | 15.1% | 16.8% |
| Net Margin | 9.0% | 8.4% | 5.8% | 8.3% |
