Arkansas Best Earnings Preview

Motley Fool Staff
Updated

Investors never know what to expect for Arkansas Best (NAS: ABFS) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Friday, Jan. 27. Arkansas Best is a holding company that, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in motor carrier transportation operations.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Arkansas Best. Analysts like Arkansas Best overall. Seven of 16 analysts rate Arkansas Best a buy. 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 $472.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 7% from the year-ago quarter.

  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.25 per share. Estimates range from $0.16 to $0.39.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly supporting the stock, with 82.9% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The greater community concurs with the All-Stars, as 83.7% give it a rating of "outperform." Fools are impressed with Arkansas Best, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 55 posts in the past 30 days. Arkansas Best's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
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 company's net margins have been increasing year-over-year for the last four quarters. Net margins reflect what percentage of revenue becomes profit. Here are Arkansas Best's reported margins for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Gross Margin

64.6%

64.3%

64.6%

(133.1%)

Operating Margin

3.9%

1.6%

(4.7%)

27.7%

Net Margin

2.4%

1.1%

(2.9%)

(0.7%)

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

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