City Holding Company Earnings Preview

Investors never know what to expect for City Holding Company (Nasdaq: CHCO  ) , as it has wavered between topping and missing analysts estimates during the past fiscal year. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, August 9. City Holding Company is a bank holding company which through its subsidiary provides credit, deposit, trust and investment management, and insurance products and services.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on City Holding Company with analysts unanimously rating it hold. Analysts don't like City Holding Company as much as competitor Peoples Bancorp overall. One out of two analysts rate Peoples Bancorp a buy compared to zero of eight for City Holding Company. City Holding Company's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $35.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 5.3% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.61 per share. Estimates range from $0.59 to $0.65.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 95.8% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars, with 90.4% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on City Holding Company, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 18 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, City Holding Company's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
City Holding Company's income has fallen year over year by an average of 3.9%. 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:

Quarter	Q1	Q4	Q3	Q2
Net Margin	23.2%	23.4%	20.3%	23.6%

One final thing: If you want to keep tabs on City Holding Company movements, and for more analysis on the company, make sure you add it to your Watchlist.

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