Woodward (Nasdaq: WWD) hasn't been able to establish an earnings trend, bouncing between beating and falling short of estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, Nov. 14. Woodward designs, manufactures, and services energy control systems and components for aircraft and industrial engines and turbines.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts like Woodward better than competitor Generac Holdings overall. Two out of seven analysts rate Generac Holdings a buy compared to eight of eight for Woodward. 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 $465.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 13% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.55 per share. Estimates range from $0.53 to $0.57.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 98.7% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 98% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Woodward and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 139 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Woodward's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Woodward's profit has risen year over year by an average of 21.1% 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

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

30.6%

30.2%

28.5%

30.2%

Operating Margin

11.6%

11.1%

8.9%

18.6%

Net Margin

8.2%

7.7%

6.1%

7.9%

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