Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY) came in right in line with the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors are hoping that it will beat them this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Jan. 26. Valley National Bancorp is a bank holding company that, through its subsidiary, Valley National Bank, provides a range of commercial, retail, and trust and investment services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Valley National Bancorp, with seven out of nine analysts rating it a hold. Analysts don't like Valley National Bancorp as much as competitor Susquehanna Bancshares overall. Ten out of 12 analysts rate Susquehanna Bancshares a buy compared to one out of nine for Valley National 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 $138.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 7.2% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.19 per share. Estimates range from $0.17 to $0.21.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 91.3% awarding it an outperform rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 80% granting it a rating of outperform. Fools are gung-ho about Valley National Bancorp, though the message boards have been quiet lately, with only 40 posts in the past 30 days. Valley National Bancorp has a bullish CAPS rating of four out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Valley National Bancorp's profit has risen year over year by an average of 18.2% 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

Q3

Q2

Q1

Q4

Net Margin

18.4%

18.3%

17.1%

19%

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Earnings estimates provided by Zacks.