Cree Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for Cree (NAS: CREE) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings Tuesday. Cree develops and manufactures semiconductor materials and devices mainly based on silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and related compounds.

What analysts say:

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 94.6% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 92.5% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on Cree and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 519 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Cree, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Cree's profit has risen year over year by an average of more than twofold. A year-over-year revenue decrease last quarter snaps a streak of three consecutive quarters of revenue increases. The company's gross margin shrank by 6.2 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue fell 6.4% while cost of sales rose 4.8% to $127.8 million from a year earlier.

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.

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

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At the time thisarticle was published

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