Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) will top analyst expectations for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, March 28. Commercial Metals recycles, manufactures, fabricates, and distributes steel and metal products and related materials and services through a network of locations throughout the United States and internationally.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Commercial Metals, with five out of eight analysts rating it a hold. Analysts like Commercial Metals better than competitor Schnitzer Steel Industries overall. One out of eight analysts rates Schnitzer Steel Industries a buy compared to two out of eight for Commercial Metals. 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 $1.98 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 10.6% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.09 per share. Estimates range from $0.02 to $0.14.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 97.2% assigning it an outperform rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 95.5% awarding it a rating of outperform. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Commercial Metals' CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
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 gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters. 

Quarter Q1 Q4 Q3 Q2
Gross Margin 8.7% 7.5% 10.4% 4.5%
Operating Margin 1.5% (4.9%) 2.5% (3.3%)
Net Margin 5.4% (5.3%) 1.7% (2.6%)

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.