Ceradyne Earnings Preview

Motley Fool Staff
Updated

Investors never know what to expect for Ceradyne (NAS: CRDN) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, April 24. Ceradyne develops, manufactures, and markets advanced technical ceramic products, ceramic powders, and components for defense, industrial, automotive, and commercial applications.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Ceradyne with three of five analysts rating it hold. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.

  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $120.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 20% from the year-ago quarter.

  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.36 per share. Estimates range from $0.25 to $0.45.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly supporting the stock, with 97.9% granting it an "outperform" rating. The greater community is in line with the All-Stars, as 97.3% give it a rating of "outperform." With just three posts in the past month, Fools have kept relatively quiet about Ceradyne despite their generally positive feelings towards the stock. Ceradyne has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with Fool community assessment.


Management:
Ceradyne's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of more than threefold over the past five quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins serve as an illustration of how efficiently a company captures portions of sales dollars. For four quarters in a row, the company has seen increases in net margins year-over-year. Net margins reflect what percentage of revenue becomes profit. Here is how Ceradyne has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

32.6%

36.3%

36.4%

38.7%

Operating Margin

25.4%

20.8%

20.3%

23.7%

Net Margin

16.1%

13.8%

13.2%

15.7%

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

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