As we find ourselves heading into yet another action-packed week of earnings reports, I wanted to take a closer look at the upcoming earnings-based performance of two names in the regional banking sector and share my thoughts on what needs to happen in order for each of these firms to meet and/or surpass analysts’ expectations.
#1 Zions Bancorp (ZION)
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Zions Bancorp, is a financial holding company which provides banking and related services to its clients and customers. It offers community banking services (including small and medium-sized business and corporate banking solutions), lending services (that encompass commercial, residential, development-based, construction and variable term lending solutions), retail banking services, cash management products and services, residential mortgages, trust and wealth management services, and investment services.
On Thursday, shares of ZION, which currently possess a market cap of $5.27 billion, a forward P/E ratio of 14.98, and a dividend yield of 0.56% ($0.16), settled at a price of $28.52/share. Based on a closing price of $28.52/share, shares of ZION are trading 3.76% below their 20-day simple moving average, 2.38% below their 50-day simple moving average, and 3.13% below their 200-day simple moving average. These numbers indicate a short-term and mid-to-long term downtrend for the stock, which wold generally translate into a selling mode for most near-term traders and many long-term investors. However, I actually this may be the time to establish a position in the company given the fact that a solid earnings-related performance could turn the stocks trend behavior right around.
Speaking of the company’s upcoming Q2 earnings, there are a number of things potential investors should consider. For example, analysts are currently calling for ZION to earn $0.45/share in terms of EPS (which is $0.04/share higher than what the company had reported during Q1 2014, and $0.03/share lower than what the company had reported during the year-ago period) when its latest earnings are released on July 21.
