Commerce Bancshares Earnings Preview

Commerce Bancshares (Nasdaq: CBSH  ) beat estimates by $0.03 last quarter, and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, July 14. Commerce Bancshares is a bank holding company which through its subsidiaries engages in general banking business, providing a range of retail, corporate, investment, trust, and asset management products and services to individuals and businesses.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Commerce Bancshares with analysts unanimously rating it hold. Analysts' rating of Commerce Bancshares has stayed constant from three months prior.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $266.3 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 72 cents per share. Estimates range from $0.69 to $0.75.

What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All-Stars see CBSH as a good bet, with 59.3% giving it an "outperform" rating. The majority of the Fools are in agreement with the All-Stars as 59.5% give it an "outperform" rating. Fools are gung-ho about Commerce Bancshares, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 30 posts in the past 30 days. Commerce Bancshares' bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Commerce Bancshares' profit has risen year over year by an average of 32.9%. Revenue has fallen for the past three 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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