Watch Bank of the Ozarks' (Nasdaq: OZRK) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, October 12. Bank of the Ozarks provides a range of retail and commercial banking services. It also provides mortgage lending and corporate cash management services, including wholesale lock box services and remote deposit capture services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Bank of the Ozarks with eight of 10 analysts rating it hold. Analysts like Bank of the Ozarks better than competitor BancorpSouth overall. One out of 10 analysts rate BancorpSouth a buy compared to two of 10 for Bank of the Ozarks.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $55.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 35.4% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 41 cents per share. Estimates range from 37 cents to 44 cents.

What our community says:
Most CAPS All Stars are skeptical of OZRK prospects, with 69.8% giving it an "underperform" rating. While the All Stars do not like OZRK, the community likes it with 60.2% granting it an "overperform" rating The Fool community on the other hand is more skeptical with 39.8% awarding it an "underperform" rating. Fools are bearish on Bank of the Ozarks, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 57 posts in the past 30 days. Bank of the Ozarks' bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Bank of the Ozarks' 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

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Net Margin

39.9%

25.7%

27.9%

30.5%

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

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.