Hornbeck Offshore Services Earnings Preview

After beating estimates last quarter by $0.16 cents, Hornbeck Offshore Services (NYSE: HOS) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Feb. 16. Hornbeck Offshore Services is a provider of marine services to various customers in exploration and production, oilfield service, offshore construction and the military.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Hornbeck Offshore Services, with five of eight rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts don't like Hornbeck Offshore Services as much as competitor GulfMark Offshore overall. 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 $116.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 19.5% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.18 per share. Estimates range from $0.08 to $0.32.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are enthusiastically backing the stock, with 96.9% giving it an "outperform" rating. Most of the community agrees with the All-Stars, with 97% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Hornbeck Offshore Services and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 121 posts in the past 30 days. Hornbeck Offshore Services has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 16.8 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue fell 15.6% while cost of sales rose 17.8% to $62.7 million from a year earlier.

Now, a look at how efficient management has been 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 decreasing year over year for the last four quarters. Operating margins reflect the total sales revenue that the company retains after costs. Here are Hornbeck Offshore Services' reported margins for the last four quarters:

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.