Liberty Property Earnings Preview

By Motley Fool Staff | More Articles
February 3, 2012 |

Liberty Property (NYSE: LRY  ) beat estimates by $0.01 last quarter and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, Feb. 7. Liberty Property Trust is a self-administered and self-managed Maryland real estate investment trust, which provides leasing, property management, development, acquisition, and other tenant-related services for a portfolio of industrial and office properties.

What analysts say:

Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Liberty Property, with 10 out of 13 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Liberty Property as much as competitor Duke Realty overall. Six out of 13 analysts rate Duke Realty a buy compared to three out of 13 for Liberty Property. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained steady in their opinion of the stock. Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $175.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 5.4% from the year-ago quarter. Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.63 per share. Estimates range from $0.61 to $0.66.

What our community says:
Most CAPS All-Stars (62.1%) are granting Liberty Property an outperform rating. The majority of the Fools agree with the All-Stars, with 56.8% giving it an outperform rating. Fools are bullish on Liberty Property, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 39 posts in the past 30 days. Liberty Property's bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters.

Now let's get some insight into how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture 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 are Liberty Property's reported margins for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Net Margin

19.9%

48.5%

16.1%

16.2%

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

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.

Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.

See more here:
Liberty Property Earnings Preview