Watch Comtech Telecommunications' (Nasdaq: CMTL) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Dec. 8. Comtech Telecommunications designs, develops, produces, and markets innovative products, systems, and services for advanced communications solutions.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Comtech Telecommunications, with five out of seven analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Comtech Telecommunications as much as competitor Globecomm Systems overall. Four out of four analysts rate Globecomm Systems a buy compared to two out of seven for Comtech Telecommunications.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $93.5 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 47.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.30 per share. Estimates range from $0.28 to $0.33.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 97.6% granting it an outperform rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 96.6% assigning it a rating of outperform. Fools are bullish on Comtech Telecommunications, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 81 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Comtech Telecommunications' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Comtech Telecommunications' profit has risen year over year by an average of 34.1% over the past five quarters. Revenue has fallen for the past three 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

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

42%

43.5%

37.4%

36.1%

Operating Margin

14.6%

16.7%

15.5%

22.5%

Net Margin

8.5%

10.9%

9.9%

14.4%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.