Avista Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for Avista (NYSE: AVA), as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings Wednesday. Avista is an energy company engaged in the generation, transmission, and distribution of energy.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Avista with five of six analysts rating it hold. Analysts like Avista better than competitor Black Hills overall. Zero out of five analysts rate Black Hills a buy compared with one of six for Avista. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of Avista for the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $377.6 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 $0.17 per share. Estimates range from $0.13 to $0.20.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 100% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 90.7% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Avista, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 19 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Avista, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Avista's profit has risen year over year by an average of 26% over the past five quarters. Over the last four quarters, revenue has increased 3.5% on average year over year.

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 and net margins over the past four quarters.

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on Avista movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your watchlist.

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