What Does Wall Street See for Ralcorp Holdings's Q4?

Updated

Ralcorp Holdings (NYS: RAH) is expected to report Q4 earnings around Nov. 9. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Ralcorp Holdings's revenues will contract -10.4% and EPS will drop -35.8%.

The average estimate for revenue is $1.10 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.86.


Revenue details
Last quarter, Ralcorp Holdings notched revenue of $1.03 billion. GAAP reported sales were 11% higher than the prior-year quarter's $927.8 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Last quarter, non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.60. GAAP EPS of $0.53 for Q3 were 6.0% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.50 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Recent performance
For the preceding quarter, gross margin was 19.9%, 100 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 8.3%, 170 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 2.9%, 20 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead

The full year's average estimate for revenue is $4.35 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.15.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a three-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 135 members out of 146 rating the stock outperform, and 11 members rating it underperform. Among 53 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 51 give Ralcorp Holdings a green thumbs-up, and two give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Ralcorp Holdings is outperform, with an average price target of $76.00.

The article What Does Wall Street See for Ralcorp Holdings's Q4? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. 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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