Rue21 Earnings Preview

After beating estimates last quarter by $0.02, rue21 (Nasdaq: RUE) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, March 14. Rue21 is an apparel retailer in the United States that offers men's and women's apparel at low prices.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back rue21, with four of six rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts don't like rue21 as much as competitor Body Central overall. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steady in their opinion of the stock.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $225.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 18.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.49 per share. Estimates range from $0.48 to $0.50.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are in strong support of the stock, with 91.7% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The majority of Fools agree with the All-Stars, with 74.1% giving it an "outperform" rating. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of rue21, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Rue21's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 37.2% over the past five quarters.

Now let's get some insight into how efficient management is at running the business. Margins are a representation of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. The company's gross margins have been increasing year-over-year for the last four quarters. Gross margins reflect the total sales revenue retained after costs. Here is how rue21 has been doing for the last four quarters:

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on rue21 movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.