Riverbed Technology Earnings Preview

Motley Fool Staff
Updated

Investors never know what to expect for Riverbed Technology (NAS: RVBD) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Jan. 26. Riverbed Technology has developed innovative and comprehensive solutions to the fundamental problems associated with IT performance across wide area networks (WANs).

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 18 analysts rating it as a buy and only one rating it as a sell. Analysts like Riverbed Technology better than competitor SolarWinds overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.

  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $200.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 21.3% from the year-ago quarter.

  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.14 per share. Estimates range from $0.11 to $0.18.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 95.5% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 94.8% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Riverbed Technology and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 251 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Riverbed Technology's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Riverbed Technology's profit has risen year over year by an average of more than sevenfold 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

76.3%

76.5%

76.2%

76.3%

Operating Margin

13.4%

11.9%

13.2%

12.4%

Net Margin

10.2%

6.6%

8.0%

7.6%

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

At the time thisarticle was published Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Riverbed Technology. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended writing covered calls in Riverbed Technology.. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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