M&T Bank Earnings Preview

Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB  ) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings today. M&T Bank offers commercial and retail banking services, including loans and deposits, mortgage banking, trust, asset management, insurance, and other financial services.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on M&T Bank with 12 of 19 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like M&T Bank as much as competitor Susquehanna Bancshares overall. Ten out of 13 analysts rate Susquehanna Bancshares a buy compared to seven of 19 for M&T Bank. 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 $1.01 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 17.5% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.67 per share. Estimates range from $1.43 to $1.84.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 77.8% giving it an outperform rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 77.1% awarding it a rating of outperform. Fools are bullish on M&T Bank and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 128 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of M&T Bank, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
M&T Bank's profit has risen year over year by an average of 48.9% 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	26.5%	20.7%	20.5%	19.5%

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