Ariba, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARBA) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28, 2011. Ariba, Inc. is a provider of collaborative business commerce solutions for buying and selling goods and services.

Ariba, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of 5 cents per share, a decline of 16.7% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 7 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down, but it has been unchanged at 5 cents during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of 23 cents per share, no change from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: The company fell short of estimates last quarter after topping forecasts the quarter prior. In the second quarter, it reported net income of 4 cents per share against a mean estimate of 5 cents. Two quarters ago, it beat expectations by 4 cents with profit of 9 cents.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $114.1 million in revenue this quarter, a rise of 22.3% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $430.1 million for the year, a rise of 19.1% from last year’s revenue of $361.1 million.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with nine analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and five rating it as a hold.

Key Stats:

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue increased 24.8% to $108.8 million in second quarter. The figure rose 5.5% in the first quarter from the year earlier, climbed 12.8% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter and 11.2% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year.

Competitors to Watch: SciQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SQI), Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Intl. Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ:EPAY), Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:MANH), Vocus, Inc. (NASDAQ:VOCS), American Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSWA), Deltek Inc. (NASDAQ:PROJ), Selectica, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLTC), and MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. (NASDAQ:MTSL).

Stock Price Performance: During April 27, 2011 to July 22, 2011, the stock price had risen $1.61 (5.1%) from $31.43 to $33.04. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between June 22, 2011 and July 8, 2011 when shares rose for 12-straight days, rising 13.6% (+$4.40) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 8, 2011 and July 14, 2011 when shares fell for five-straight days, falling 7.5% (-$2.77) over that span. Shares are up $9.55 (+40.7%) year to date.

(Source: Xignite Financials)

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