Investors are on the edges of their seats, hoping that QLogic (Nasdaq: QLGC) will top analyst expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Oct. 27. QLogic is a designer and supplier of network infrastructure products that enhance, manage, and support the transmission of data from computer servers to storage systems and from computer servers to other servers.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on QLogic as five analysts rate it as a buy and only three analysts rate it as a sell. Analysts like QLogic better than competitor PMC-Sierra overall. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $150.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 2.8% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.26 per share. Estimates range from $0.24 to $0.27.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 100% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 93.3% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on QLogic, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 68 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of QLogic, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

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 66.5% 66.6% 66.0% 65.6%
Operating Margin 21.5% 23.6% 26.0% 23.8%
Net Margin 21.4% 21.9% 32.3% 20.5%
We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized service. Add QLogic now.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.