Here's How hhgregg May Be Failing You

Margins matter. The more hhgregg (NYSE: HGG  ) 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, comparisons to sector peers and competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong hhgregg's competitive position could be.

Here's the current margin snapshot for hhgregg and some of its sector and industry peers and direct competitors.

Company	TTM Gross Margin	TTM Operating Margin	TTM Net Margin
hhgregg	29.9%	3.7%	2.1%
Target (NYSE: TGT  )	29.9%	7.8%	4.3%
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY  )	25.0%	4.3%	2.3%
Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD  )	26.7%	(0.1%)	(0.8%)

Source: S&P Capital IQ. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Unfortunately, that table doesn't tell us much about where hhgregg 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 ch! eck, 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.

Of course, over the short term, the kind of economic shocks we recently experienced can drastically affect a company's profitability. That's why I like to look at five fiscal years' worth of margins, along with the results for the trailing 12 months, the last fiscal year, and last fiscal quarter. You can't always reach a hard conclusion about your company's health, but you can better understand what to expect, and what to watch.

Here's the margin picture for hhgregg over the past few years.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Because of seasonality in some businesses, the numbers for the last period on the right -- the TTM figures -- aren't always comparable to the FY results preceding them. To compare quarterly margins to their prior-year levels, consult this chart.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

Here's how the stats break down:

• Over the past five years, gross margin peaked at 31.2% and averaged 30.8%. Operating margin peaked at 5.4% and averaged 4.9%. Net margin peaked at 2.6% and averaged 2.2%.
• TTM gross margin is 29.9%, 90 basis points worse than the five-year average. TTM operating margin is 3.7%, 120 basis points worse than the five-year average. TTM net margin is 2.1%, 10! basis p oints worse than the five-year average.

With recent TTM operating margins below historical averages, hhgregg has some work to do.

If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're probably ahead of 95% of the market's individual investors. To stay ahead, learn more about how I use analysis like this to help me uncover the best returns in the stock market. Got an opinion on the margins at hhgregg? Let us know in the comments below.

• Add hhgregg to My Watchlist.
• Add Target to My Watchlist.
• Add Best Buy to My Watchlist.
• Add Sears Holdings to My Watchlist.

Tags: AAPL ,Best Rising Stocks ,Best Stocks To Invest In ,Best Stocks To Invest In 2012 ,GOOG ,NLSN  ,RIMM ,Is Android Eating iPhone’s Lunch?