Umpqua Holdings Earnings Preview

Umpqua Holdings (Nasdaq: UMPQ  ) beat estimates by 2 cents last quarter and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, July 20. Umpqua Holdings is a financial holding company that is engaged in the business of commercial and retail banking and the delivery of retail brokerage services.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Umpqua Holdings -- six of 10 analysts rate it a hold. Analysts don't like Umpqua Holdings as much as competitor Columbia Banking System overall. Five out of nine analysts rate Columbia Banking System a buy compared to four of 10 for Umpqua Holdings. 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 $122 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 10.1% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 13 cents per share. Estimates range from 10 cents to 13 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock with 95.4% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars with 92.5% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on Umpqua Holdings and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 176 posts in the past 30 days. The company also has a robust four out of five stars rating in Motley Fool CAPS.

Management:
Umpqua Holdings' income has fallen year over year by an average of more than twofold. Revenue has now gone up for three 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.

Quarter	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Net Margin	9.2%	4.8%	5.6%	2.6%

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