Chubb Earnings Preview

Chubb (NYSE: CB  ) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Oct. 20. Chubb is a holding company that provides property and casualty insurance business to a wide range of customers.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 10 analysts rating it as a buy and only two rating it as a sell. Analysts like Chubb better than competitor Loews overall. 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 $2.82 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 3.3% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.85 per share. Estimates range from $0.44 to $1.46.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 97.3% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars, with 96.2% giving it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Chubb and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 156 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Chubb's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Chubb's income has fallen year over year by an average of 6.1% 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	12.3%	14.9%	18.2%	17.5%

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