Commerce Bancshares Earnings Preview

Commerce Bancshares (Nasdaq: CBSH  ) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, October 13. Commerce Bancshares is a bank holding company that, 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 six of nine analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Commerce Bancshares as much as competitor TCF overall. Seven out of 16 analysts rate TCF a buy, compared to one of nine for Commerce Bancshares. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of Commerce Bancshares for the past three months.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $268 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 3.5% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.77 per share. Estimates range from $0.74 to $0.83.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are split on CBSH, with 50% rating it an "outperform" and 50% giving it an "underperform" rating. Fools 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 two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Commerce Bancshares' profit has risen year over year by an average of 21.4% over the past five quarters. 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. 

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

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