Lindsay Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for Lindsay (NYSE: LNN  ) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. Lindsay is a designer and manufacturer of self-propelled center pivot and lateral move irrigation systems that are used in the agricultural industry to increase or stabilize crop production while conserving water, energy, and labor.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Lindsay with six of seven analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Lindsay as much as competitor AGCO overall. Four out of 11 analysts rate AGCO a buy compared to one of seven for Lindsay. 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 $102 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 14.3% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.46 per share. Estimates range from $0.33 to $0.66.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 91.4% giving it an outperform rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 91.6% assigning it a rating of outperform. Fools have embraced Lindsay and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 128 posts in the past 30 days. Lindsay has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Lindsay's profit has risen year over year by an average of 49.3% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 3.6 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 33.2% while cost of sales rose 40% to $86.1 million from a year earlier.

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	Q4	Q3	Q2	Q1
Gross Margin	25.9%	27.0%	28.3%	27.2%
Operating Margin	8.4%	15.1%	14.2%	7.4%
Net Margin	5.1%	10.0%	9.4%	4.8%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks