Investors are bracing for the worst and waiting to see if Saul Centers (NYSE: BFS) will fall short of Wall Street forecasts for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, March 8. Saul Centers is a real estate investment trust that is engaged in the ownership, management, and development of income-producing properties.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Saul Centers with two of three analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Saul Centers as much as competitor American Assets Trust overall. Six out of seven analysts rate American Assets Trust a buy compared to one of three for Saul Centers. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steady in their opinion of the stock.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.55 per share.

What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All-Stars are wary about the future of Saul Centers, with 61.1% granting it an "underperform" rating. The community agrees with the All-Stars, with 59.1% of Fools assigning it "underperform" rating. Saul Centers' bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Revenue has fallen in the past two quarters.

Now, a look at how efficient management has been at running the business. Margins are a representation of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. Saul Centers saw a decrease in its net margins in the last two quarters year over year. Net margins reflect what percentage of each dollar earned by the company becomes profit. Here are Saul Centers' reported margins for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Net Margin

17.5%

19.7%

31.2%

15.9%

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

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.