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Lindsay to Report (LNN) Q4 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Lindsay Corporation (LNN - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter 2017 results on Mar 30. Last quarter, the company’s adjusted earnings plunged 87% year over year. First-quarter performance in the irrigation segment was negatively impacted by low volume and resulting cost deleverage in the company’s operations. However, the infrastructure segment continues to maintain solid performance as market activity reflects improving demand. Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors at Play

Lindsay’s backlog in first-quarter fiscal 2017 end was $55.9 million compared with $61.9 million at the end of the prior-year quarter. Improved backlog in international irrigation and infrastructure were offset by a lower backlog in U.S. irrigation.

Lindsay stated that estimated record production for both corn and soybeans from the fall harvest in the U.S. will continue to exert downward pressure on commodity prices. Lower commodity prices and reduced farm income continue to affect farmer sentiments regarding capital goods purchases. Consequently, the company is not expecting any meaningful improvement in the overall irrigation market in fiscal 2017. Hence, Lindsay’s results will be affected.

However, the infrastructure business continues to perform well. The pipeline of Road Zipper projects remain solid with production activity higher than last year in support of future sales leading to incremental factory overhead absorption. The company also witnessed improved activity in demand for road safety products. Lindsay expects increased interest in the Road Zipper system to benefit infrastructure revenues.

Earnings Surprise History

Lindsay Corporation Price and EPS Surprise
 

Lindsay Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Lindsay Corporation Quote

Lindsay has failed to match the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters with an average negative surprise of 14.05%.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Lindsay is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP for Lindsay is 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at 38 cents per share. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Linday carries a Zacks Rank #3. Though Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 increases the predictive power of ESP, the company’s ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult.

We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Price Performance



In the past three months, the Lindsay stock has outperformed the Zacks categorized Machinery – Farm industry. The company has delivered a return of 8.0%, ahead of the industry’s gain of 4.6%.

Stocks to Consider

Here are a couple of stocks, which you may consider as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases:

Carnival Corporation (CCL - Free Report) , with an Earnings ESP of +5.71% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI - Free Report) , with an Earnings ESP of +0.79% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (PLAY - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.62% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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