CH Energy Group Earnings Preview

CH Energy Group (NYSE: CHG) is slated to reveal its latest earnings on Thursday, Feb. 16. CH Energy Group is a holding company for Central Hudson and CHEC, whose businesses are comprised of a regulated electric utility and regulated natural gas utility, fuel distribution, cogeneration, energy management, and investments in energy-related assets.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are divided on CH Energy Group, with equal numbers rating the stock a buy, sell, and hold.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.82 per share. Estimates range from $0.78 to $0.86.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 94.1% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 91.9% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools feel positively about CH Energy Group, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 20 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of CH Energy Group, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
CH Energy Group's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 61.5% over the past five quarters. A year-over-year revenue decrease last quarter snaps a streak of three consecutive quarters of revenue increases.

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 and net margins over the past four quarters.

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