Earnings Preview for Automatic Data Processing (ADP)

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP) will be reporting fiscal third-quarter 2011 results after the market closes on Monday, April 28. Analysts are looking for the employer services company to announce that per-share earnings rose 7.1% from a year ago to $0.85. The consensus estimate is unchanged in the past 60 days. Analysts also expect to see revenues of $2.7 billion for the quarter, an increase of 9.0% from the same period of last year.

New Jersey-based ADP operates in three segments: Employer Services includes payroll and benefits administration; Professional Employer Organization Services provides employment administration outsourcing solutions; and Dealer Services offers business management solutions to automotive, motorcycle, marine, recreational vehicle, and heavy machinery retailers. The company serves more than 500,000 clients worldwide. ADP also releases a monthly national employment report that is seen as a preview to the U.S. Department of Labor's official employment report.

During the three months that ended in March, ADP acquired AdvancedMD, a provider of cloud-based health records solutions. ADP also lifted its full-year earnings and revenue guidance, saying it now expects about 5% growth of each. Analysts are thus far anticipating full-year EPS up 4.8%, but revenue increasing 8.7% from a year ago. Note that consensus EPS estimates have been more or less in line with results in the past five quarters.

ADP has a dividend yield of 2.6% and a return on equity of 21.0%. Analysts on average have recommended buying ADP for more than 90 days. Stifel Nicolaus just raised its price target to $63. The share price has been climbing since September and today reached a 52-week high of $54.46.