After beating estimates last quarter by $0.02, CONMED (Nasdaq: CNMD) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, Feb. 15. CONMED is a technology company with an emphasis on surgical devices and equipment for minimally invasive procedures and monitoring.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on CONMED while the remaining half rate the stock as a buy. Analysts don't like CONMED as much as competitor ArthroCare overall. Four out of six analysts rate ArthroCare a buy compared to two of four for CONMED. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of CONMED for the past three months.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $185 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 0.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.39 per share. Estimates range from $0.38 to $0.41.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are in strong support of the stock, with 84.6% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The majority of Fools (63.8%) agree with the All-Stars and award it an "outperform" rating. Fools have embraced CONMED, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 27 posts in the past 30 days. The CAPS rating of five out of five stars for CONMED is far more upbeat than the community assessment.

Management:
CONMED's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 19% 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. The company's operating margins have been increasing year-over-year for the last four quarters. Operating margins reflect the total sales revenue that the company retains after costs. See how CONMED has been doing for the last four quarters: 

Quarter Q3 Q2 Q1 Q4
Gross Margin 52.8% 49.9% 52.2% 49.4%
Operating Margin 9.2% 9.1% 9.4% 7.4%
Net Margin 4.8% 4.7% 4.9% 3.8%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on ConMed movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.