F.N.B Earnings Preview

F.N.B (NYSE: FNB  ) beat estimates by $0.01 last quarter and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday. F.N.B., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of financial services to consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses in its market areas.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on F.N.B with five of nine analysts rating it hold. Analysts like F.N.B better than competitor National Penn Bancshares overall. Four out of 10 analysts rate National Penn Bancshares a buy compared to four of nine for F.N.B. 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 $109.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 22.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.18 per share. Estimates range from $0.17 to $0.19.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are split on FNB, with 50% rating it an outperform and 50% giving it an "underperform" rating. Fools F.N.B, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 23 posts in the past 30 days. F.N.B's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
F.N.B's profit has risen year over year by an average of more than twofold over the past five quarters. The company's revenue has now risen for two 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	17.6%	13.7%	19.2%	14.1%

For all our F.N.B-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add F.N.B to My Watchlist.

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