Bill Barrett Earnings Preview

Bill Barrett (NYSE: BBG  ) hasn't been able to establish an earnings trend, bouncing between beating and falling short of estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Feb. 23. Bill Barrett Corporation is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas and crude oil.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on this stock. Only one rates it as a sell, while nine recommend it as a buy. Analysts don't like Bill Barrett as much as competitor Kodiak Oil & Gas overall. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $199.4 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 22% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.36 per share. Estimates range from $0.04 to $0.54.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are enthusiastically backing the stock, with 96.2% giving it an outperform rating. Most of the community concurs with the All-Stars, with 91.5% awarding it a rating of outperform. Bill Barrett has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

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 operating margins have been decreasing year over year for the last four quarters. Operating margins reflect the total sales revenue that the company retains after costs. Here is how Bill Barrett has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter	Q3	Q2	Q1	Q4
Gross Margin	80.9%	76.7%	75.3%	75.5%
Operating Margin	22.6%	32.4%	20.5%	0.2%
Net Margin	10%	16.5%	8.8%	(4.2%)

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.