United Stationers Earnings Preview

Motley Fool Staff
Updated

While United Stationers (NAS: USTR) missed estimates last quarter, investors hope that it will bounce back and outpace Wall Street expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, Oct. 24. United Stationers is a wholesale distributor of business products.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on United Stationers, with two of three analysts rating it hold.

  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.29 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 1.6% from the year-ago quarter.

  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.80 per share. Estimates range from $0.73 to $0.85.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 91.3% granting it an outperform rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Star, with 87.7% awarding it a rating of outperform. Fools are bullish on United Stationers, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 22 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of United Stationers, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
United Stationers' profit has risen year over year by an average of 1.9% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

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

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

14.7%

14.7%

16%

15.3%

Operating Margin

3.8%

3.2%

4.9%

5.2%

Net Margin

2%

1.7%

2.6%

2.9%

For all our United Stationers-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add United Stationers to My Watchlist.

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At the time thisarticle was published

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