Investors braced for a bumpy ride ahead of Corporate Executive Board Company's (NYSE: EXBD) earnings announcement as the company has wavered between beating and falling short of analyst predictions during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, February 7. Corporate Executive Board helps improve decision making among a global network of executives and business professionals and provides its members with authoritative and timely guidance they need to elevate company performance and excel in their careers.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: The majority of analysts back Corporate Executive Board Company as a buy. But with 57.1% of analysts rating it a buy, Corporate Executive Board Company is still below the mean analyst rating of its nearest nine competitors, which average 58.6% buys. Analysts like Corporate Executive Board Company better than competitor Korn/Ferry International overall. Two out of six analysts rate Korn/Ferry International a buy compared to four of seven for Corporate Executive Board Company. While analysts still rate the stock a Moderate buy, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $132.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 13.4% 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 behind the stock, with 97% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 93.7% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Corporate Executive Board Company and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 144 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Corporate Executive Board Company's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Corporate Executive Board Company's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 18.1% 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

65.9%

63.2%

64.8%

63.3%

Operating Margin

20.1%

14.9%

15.5%

14.5%

Net Margin

11.4%

8.7%

9.9%

9.2%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.