Rockwell Collins Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Rockwell Collins (NYSE:COL) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, July 24, 2012. Rockwell Collins designs and produces communications and aviation electronics for commercial and military customers across the globe.

Rockwell Collins Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for profit of $1.15 per share, a rise of 13.9% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.18. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It also has dropped from $1.16 during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net income of $4.40 per share, a rise of 11.7% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company met expectations by reporting profit of $1.09 per share last quarter. In the previous first quarter, the company beat estimates by one cent.

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Stock Price Performance: Between April 23, 2012 and July 18, 2012, the stock price fell $6.49 (-11.7%), from $55.39 to $48.90. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between March 6, 2012 and March 12, 2012, when shares rose for five straight days, increasing 2.6% (+$1.47) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between May 7, 2012 and May 18, 2012 when shares fell for 10 straight days, dropping 6.3% (-$3.38) over that span.

A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 7.3% to $161 million ($1.09 a share) from $150 million (96 cents a share) the year earlier, meeting analyst expectations. Revenue fell 5.1% to $1.16 billion from $1.22 billion.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts predict a rise of 4.2% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $1.24 billion.

Key Stats:

On the top line, the company is hoping to use this earnings announcement to snap a string of two-straight quarters of revenue declines. Revenue fell 1.4% in the first quarter and dropped again in the second quarter.

The company enters this earnings announcement with steady profits recently. Net income has risen year-over-year average of 5.3% for the last four quarters.

Analyst Ratings: With nine analysts rating the stock a buy, one rating it a sell and six rating the stock a hold, there are indications of a bullish stance by analysts. Over the past 90 days, the average rating for the stock has moved up from hold to moderate buy.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 1.9 last quarter. The current ratio is an indication of a firm’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands and generally, for every dollar the company owes in the short term, it has that figure available in assets that can be converted to cash in the short term. The company regressed in this liquidity measure from 1.99 in the first quarter to the last quarter driven in part by an increase in liabilities. Current liabilities increased 7.6% to $1.45 billion while assets rose 2.4% to $2.76 billion.

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

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