US Bancorp Earnings Preview

Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that US Bancorp (NYSE: USB  ) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. US Bancorp is a financial holding company that provides financial services through its subsidiaries, including lending and depository services, cash management, foreign exchange and trust and investment management services.

What analysts say:
 

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 15 analysts rating it as a buy and only two rating it as a sell. Analysts like US Bancorp better than competitor Goldman Sachs Group overall. Wall Street has warmed to the stock over the past three months, with analysts increasing their endorsement from hold to moderate buy.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $4.7 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 2.4% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.61 per share. Estimates range from $0.54 to $0.64.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 94.8% granting it an outperform rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 93.5% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are bullish on US Bancorp and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 736 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, US Bancorp's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
US Bancorp's profit has risen year over year by an average of 48.6% over the past five quarters. 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	22.8%	20.5%	18.3%	17.5%

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