NBT Bancorp Earnings Preview

After beating estimates last quarter by $0.02, NBT Bancorp (Nasdaq: NBTB  ) has set the standard for itself. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, January 23. NBT Bancorp is a financial holding company which provides commercial banking and financial services through its subsidiaries, NBT Bank and Pennstar Bank.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on NBT Bancorp, with analysts unanimously rating it hold. Analysts don't like NBT Bancorp as much as competitor Community Bank System overall. Two out of six analysts rate Community Bank System a buy compared to zero out of three for NBT Bancorp. NBT Bancorp's rating hasn't changed over the past three months.
• Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $71.7 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 1.4% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.42 per share. Estimates range from $0.41 to $0.43.

What our community says:
Most CAPS All-Stars are skeptical of NBTB prospects, with 55.6% granting it an underperform rating. While the All-Stars do not like NBTB, the community likes it, with 60% giving it an overperform rating The Fool community on the other hand is more skeptical, with 40% assigning it an underperform rating. Fools are bearish on NBT Bancorp, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 11 posts in the past 30 days. NBT Bancorp's bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
NBT Bancorp's profit has risen year over year by an average of 3.2% over the past five quarters. Revenue has fallen for the past three 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%	18.3%	17.8%	17.1%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.