Cathay General Bancorp (Nasdaq: CATY) met its estimates last quarter, but investors hope it will beat them this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday. Cathay General Bancorp is a holding company for Cathay Bank, which offers various financial services for individuals, professionals, and small- to medium-sized businesses in California.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Cathay General Bancorp with seven of 11 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Cathay General Bancorp as much as competitor Wilshire Bancorp overall. Four out of seven analysts rate Wilshire Bancorp a buy compared to four of 11 for Cathay General Bancorp. 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 $90.9 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 0.6% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.29 per share. Estimates range from $0.24 to $0.33.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 83.3% granting it an outperform rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars with 84.2% giving it a rating of outperform. Fools are keen on Cathay General Bancorp, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 38 posts in the past 30 days. Cathay General Bancorp's bearish CAPS rating of two out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Cathay General Bancorp's profit has risen year over year by an average of more than threefold over the past five 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

19.9%

19.2%

17.5%

13.5%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.