S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Forest Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:FRX) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, January 17, 2012. Forest Laboratories and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and sell prescription drug products.

Forest Laboratories, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet.

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1 per share, a decline of 25.4% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. The average estimate is the same as three months ago. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It also has not changed during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 17.5% versus last year to $3.64.

Past Earnings Performance: The company missed estimates last quarter after beating forecasts in the prior two. In the second quarter, the company reported profit of 91 cents per share versus a mean estimate of net income of 99 cents per share. In the first quarter, the company beat estimates by 8 cents.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $1.18 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 4.4% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $4.5 billion for the year, a rise of 1.8% from last year’s revenue of $4.42 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts seem relatively indifferent about Forest Laboratories with 13 of 25 analysts surveyed maintaining a hold rating.

A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit fell 12.7% to $249.8 million (91 cents a share) from $286.1 million ($1 a share) the year earlier, missing analyst expectations. Revenue rose 7.8% to $1.16 billion from $1.08 billion.

Key Stats:.

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue rose 8.2% in the first quarter from the year earlier, climbed 12.7% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter and 5.9% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year.

Competitors to Watch: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), AstraZeneca plc (NYSE:AZN), Lannett Company, Inc. (AMEX:LCI), Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE:WPI), Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ:MYL), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), Impax Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IPXL), Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc. (NYSE:PRX), and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAZZ).

Stock Price Performance: During December 12, 2011 to January 11, 2012, the stock price had risen $1.90 (6.5%) from $29.27 to $31.17. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between June 6, 2011 and June 14, 2011 when shares rose for seven-straight days, rising 7.2% (+$2.61) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 21, 2011 and August 2, 2011 when shares fell for nine-straight days, falling 7.1% (-$2.76) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks).

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To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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