Investors are on the edge of their collective seats, hoping that Bank of the Ozarks (Nasdaq: OZRK) will top analyst expectations for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday. Bank of the Ozarks provides a range of retail and commercial banking services. It also provides mortgage lending and corporate cash management services, including wholesale lock box services and remote deposit capture services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Bank of the Ozarks with analysts unanimously rating it hold. Analysts don't like Bank of the Ozarks as much as competitor BancorpSouth overall. One out of 11 analysts rate BancorpSouth a buy compared to zero of eight for Bank of the Ozarks. While analysts still rate the stock a hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $60.5 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 38.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.49 per share. Estimates range from $0.44 to $0.56.

What our community says:
Most CAPS All-Stars are skeptical of Bank of the Ozarks' prospects, with 63.6% awarding it an underperform rating. While the All-Stars do not like Bank of the Ozarks, the community likes it with 58.6% giving it an overperform rating The Fool community on the other hand is more skeptical with 41.4% granting it an underperform rating. Fools are bearish on Bank of the Ozarks, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 59 posts in the past 30 days. Bank of the Ozarks' bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Bank of the Ozarks' 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

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Net Margin

27.8%

39.9%

25.7%

27.9%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.