Government services provider Maximus (NYSE: MMS) will be reporting results this Thursday before the bell. Here’s what to look for.

Maximus missed analysts’ revenue expectations by 1.7% last quarter, reporting revenues of $1.32 billion, flat year on year. It was a slower quarter for the company, with full-year revenue guidance missing analysts’ expectations significantly and a miss of analysts’ revenue estimates.

Is Maximus a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Maximus’s revenue to decline 2% year on year to $1.37 billion, a reversal from the 5.7% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.82 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Maximus has only missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates once over the last two years, exceeding top-line expectations by 3.3% on average.

Looking at Maximus’s peers in the professional services segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Booz Allen Hamilton’s revenues decreased 10.2% year on year, missing analysts’ expectations by 3.8%, and Jacobs Solutions reported revenues up 12.3%, topping estimates by 6.5%. Booz Allen Hamilton traded down 1.9% following the results.

Read our full analysis of Booz Allen Hamilton’s results here and Jacobs Solutions’s results here.

Investors in the professional services segment have had fairly steady hands going into earnings, with share prices down 1.4% on average over the last month. Maximus is up 1.9% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $110 (compared to the current share price of $91.73).

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