Watch Strayer Education's (Nasdaq: STRA) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, April 26. Strayer Education, through its subsidiaries, makes post-secondary education achievable and convenient for working adults in today's economy.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Strayer Education with eight of 12 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Strayer Education as much as competitor Bridgepoint Education overall. Four out of seven analysts rate Bridgepoint Education a buy compared to three of 12 for Strayer Education. Analysts still rate the stock a hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $150.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 12.7% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $2.09 per share. Estimates range from $2.06 to $2.15.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly supporting the stock, with 81.5% awarding it an "outperform" rating. Most of the community agrees with the All-Stars, with 80.4% granting it a rating of "outperform." Strayer Education's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Strayer Education's income has fallen year-over-year by an average of 21.1% over the past five quarters. Revenue has fallen in the past two quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 13.3 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue fell 9.4% while cost of sales rose 26.9% to $72.5 million from a year earlier.

Now, a look at how efficient management has been at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. Strayer Education has seen slipping gross margins year-over-year for the last four quarters. Gross margins reflect the total sales revenue retained after costs. Here are Strayer Education's reported margins for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

53.5%

49.8%

53.4%

56.4%

Operating Margin

29.1%

18.0%

30.6%

34.4%

Net Margin

17.1%

10.3%

18.1%

20.8%

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