Ruth's Hospitality Group (Nasdaq: RUTH) came in under analyst's estimates last quarter, but now have a chance to fix things this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Friday. Ruth's Hospitality Group, together with its subsidiaries, operates restaurants around the world. It owns the Ruth's Chris Steak House, Mitchell's Fish Market, Columbus Fish Market, Mitchell's Steakhouse, and Cameron's Steakhouse.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Ruth's Hospitality Group, with four of six rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. 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 $95.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 1.8% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.10 per share. Estimates range from $0.07 to $0.12.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly supporting the stock, with 92.6% granting it an outperform rating. Most of the community is in line with the All-Stars, with 87.9% giving it a rating of outperform. Fools have embraced Ruth's Hospitality Group and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 143 posts in the past 30 days. Ruth's Hospitality Group's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Ruth's Hospitality Group's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 21% 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. Margins are a representation of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. Ruth's Hospitality Group's net margins, which reflect what percentage of revenue becomes profit, have rise year-over-year for the last two quarters". See how Ruth's Hospitality Group has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

15.8%

22.3%

22.8%

21.8%

Operating Margin

2.1%

9.1%

10.6%

6.4%

Net Margin

1.0%

9.9%

7.0%

4.9%

For all our Ruth's Hospitality Group-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Ruth's Hospitality Group to My Watchlist.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.