Valley National Bancorp Earnings Preview

Valley National Bancorp (NYS: VLY) beat estimates by $0.02 last quarter and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 28. Valley National Bancorp is a bank holding company, which through its subsidiary, Valley National Bank provides a range of commercial, retail and trust and investment services.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Valley National Bancorp with seven of 10 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Valley National Bancorp as much as competitor Susquehanna Bancshares overall. Nine out of 14 analysts rate Susquehanna Bancshares a buy compared to two of 10 for Valley National Bancorp. Analysts still rate the stock a Hold, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.

• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $140.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 0.6% from the year-ago quarter.

• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.21 per share. Estimates range from $0.19 to $0.22.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 85% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 78.3% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Valley National Bancorp, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 37 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of Valley National Bancorp, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
Valley National Bancorp's profit has risen year over year by an average of 44%. The company's revenue has now risen for two straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows net margins over the past four quarters.

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At the time thisarticle was published

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