Earnings Preview: BB&T Corp.

BB&T Corp. (BBT) is expected to report Q3 earnings on Monday, October 19 before the market opens, with a conference call scheduled for 11 am ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for EPS of 22c on revenue of $2.15B. The consensus range is 2c-43c for EPS and $1.98B-$2.29B for revenue, according to First Call. BB&T on Tuesday sold $800M in deposits and some branch locations in Nevada to U.S. Bancorp (USB). In August, BB&T bought $22B in assets and $20B in deposits from the failed Colonial BancGroup (CBCGQ). BB&T's investors may want to know how Colonial BanGroup's loans are performing, and how the deal affected BB&T's bottom line in Q3. Some investors may be encouraged by J.P. Morgan's (JPM) results, although most of the bank's profits came from trading activities. However, J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that he was "seeing some initial signs of consumer credit stability." On the other hand, Bank of America's (BAC) weaker than expected results may provide BB&T investors with reason to worry about the regional bank's results. BofA did note that credit costs remain high.

Analyst Views

Meanwhile, two analysts have had mixed outlooks on the bank recently. UBS initiated BB&T with a Sell rating and a $21 target. They also initiated the Large Cap Regional Bank sector with a Cautious view. UBS believes that the valuations in the sector are "stretched," in light of fundamentals. Conversely, Morgan Keegan upgraded BB&T to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm thinks that the bank is poised for earnings growth, while its valuation didn't reflect its growth potential. :theflyonth

Comments

[meridian575:]

Thanks for the earnings report. For more information on regional banks in the north-east and mid-atlantic, take a look at an article from Yahoo Finance that compares the smaller banks to the national banks and more:
finance.yahoo.com/news...

Oct 16 11:03 AM

[helplessobs...:]

If the recent stock price is any indicator this high quality regional bank is nearly back on its feet. Real estate in Washington DC is becoming less of a drag so the Atlanta and Florida commercial and residential burdens will be easier to bear. CEO Kelly King is still stunned by the huge loan loss reserves he has to authorize. At least he does not now have to pay interest on the TARP funds anymore. Progress is being made loan by loan.

Oct 16 04:21 PM