Greif Earnings Preview

Updated

Investors never know what to expect for Greif (NYS: GEF) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. Greif produces industrial packaging products, with manufacturing facilities located in more than 45 countries. Its products include steel, fiber, and plastic drums, intermediate bulk containers, and closure systems for industrial packaging.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Greif with three of five analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Greif as much as competitor Silgan Holdings overall. Three out of six analysts rate Silgan Holdings a buy compared to two of five for Greif.

  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $1.03 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 3.6% from the year-ago quarter.

  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.70 per share. Estimates range from $0.60 to $1.02.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 99.2% granting it an outperform rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 97.4% assigning it a rating of outperform. Greif has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Greif's profit has risen year over year by an average of 19.6% over the past five 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

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

18.8%

19.7%

18.7%

20.8%

Operating Margin

9.6%

8.7%

7.3%

10.7%

Net Margin

5.6%

4.8%

4.4%

7.7%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks

At the time thisarticle was published

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