Margins matter. The more FleetCor Technologies (NYS: FLT) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong FleetCor Technologies's competitive position could be.
Here's the current margin snapshot for FleetCor Technologies over the trailing 12 months: Gross margin is 75.9%, while operating margin is 47.5% and net margin is 31.6%.
Unfortunately, a look at the most recent numbers doesn't tell us much about where FleetCor Technologies has been, or where it's going. A company with rising gross and operating margins often fuels its growth by increasing demand for its products. If it sells more units while keeping costs in check, its profitability increases. Conversely, a company with gross margins that inch downward over time is often losing out to competition, and possibly engaging in a race to the bottom on prices. If it can't make up for this problem by cutting costs -- and most companies can't -- then both the business and its shares face a decidedly bleak outlook.
Here's the margin picture for FleetCor Technologies over the past few years.
Over the past five years, gross margin peaked at 75.4% and averaged 73.6%. Operating margin peaked at 46.3% and averaged 43.0%. Net margin peaked at 30.6% and averaged 27.5%.
TTM gross margin is 75.9%, 230 basis points better than the five-year average. TTM operating margin is 47.5%, 450 basis points better than the five-year average. TTM net margin is 31.6%, 410 basis points better than the five-year average.
With recent TTM operating margins exceeding historical averages, FleetCor Technologies looks like it is doing fine.
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The article How FleetCor Technologies Got More Awesome Last Quarter originally appeared on Fool.com.