IDEXX Laboratories (Nasdaq: IDXX) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Friday, Jan. 27. IDEXX Laboratories develops, manufactures, and distributes products and provides services for the veterinary and the food and water testing markets.
What analysts say:
- Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on IDEXX Laboratories with six of 10 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like IDEXX Laboratories as much as competitor Henry Schein overall. Seven out of 14 analysts rate Henry Schein a buy compared to four of 10 for IDEXX Laboratories. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
- Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $304 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 7.1% from the year-ago quarter.
- Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.63 per share. Estimates range from $0.59 to $0.64.
What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly backing the stock, with 98.6% granting it an "outperform" rating. Most of the community concurs with the All-Stars, with 95.1% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on IDEXX Laboratories, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 70 posts in the past 30 days. IDEXX Laboratories has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.
Management:
IDEXX Laboratories' profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 17.5% 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 serve as an illustration of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. IDEXX Laboratories has seen increasing operating margins year-over-year for the last four quarters. Operating margins reflect the total sales revenue that the company retains after costs. Here are IDEXX Laboratories' reported margins for the last four quarters:
| Quarter | Q3 | Q2 | Q1 | Q4 |
| Gross Margin | 52.7% | 54.8% | 52.9% | 51.0% |
| Operating Margin | 18.6% | 22.4% | 18.3% | 17.9% |
| Net Margin | 12.8% | 15.3% | 12.5% | 12.8% |
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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.
