Watch BB&T's (NYSE: BBT) earnings report to see if it can beat analyst expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday. BB&T is a financial holding company that, through its subsidiary Branch Banking and Trust, provides a range of banking services and loans to individuals and businesses.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on BB&T with 20 of 30 analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like BB&T as much as competitor SunTrust Banks overall. Eleven out of 26 analysts rate SunTrust Banks a buy compared to eight of 30 for BB&T. 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 $2.18 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 9.9% 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 $0.58.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock with 88.4% giving it an outperform rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars with 87.9% assigning it a rating of outperform. Fools have embraced BB&T and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 322 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of BB&T, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
BB&T's profit has risen year over year by an average of 29.1% 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

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Net Margin

12.4%

9.4%

7.6%

7.3%

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