Investors braced for a bumpy ride ahead of Entertainment Properties' (NYSE: EPR) 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 Thursday, Feb. 23. Entertainment Properties Trust develops, owns, leases, and finances megaplex theaters, entertainment retail centers, and destination recreational and specialty properties.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Entertainment Properties, with five out of six analysts rating it a hold. Analysts like Entertainment Properties better than competitor Alexander's overall. Zero out of one analysts rate Alexander's a buy compared to one out of six for Entertainment Properties. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $57 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 30.2% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.88 per share. Estimates range from $0.86 to $0.89.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly supporting the stock, with 82.1% giving it an outperform rating. The greater community concurs with the All-Stars, as 84.8% give it a rating of outperform. Entertainment Properties' bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Entertainment Properties' profit has risen year over year by an average of 20% over the past five quarters. Revenue has fallen for the past three 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 net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Net Margin

46.8%

0%

56.7%

47.6%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.