Earnings Preview: Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) is expected to report Q2 earnings before market open on Thursday, July 17, with a conference call scheduled for 1:00 pm ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for EPS of 23c on revenue of $621.15M. The consensus range for EPS is 19c to 35c, while the consensus range for revenue is $597.42M to $641.10M, according to First Call.

Analyst Views

Huntington Bancshares was initiated with a Hold and a $7 target by Citigroup on June 25.

On June 20, the bank predicted that its 2008 net charge-offs will be near the high end of its previous guidance of 0.60% to 0.65% of average total loans and leases. The company added that it expects to report Q2 net charge-offs of an annualized 0.60% to 0.65% of average total loans and leases. The Q2 provision for credit losses will exceed net charge-offs by approximately $55M to $65M, compared with $40.2M in Q1, the bank estimated.

Huntington Bancshares may still need to obtain more capital, UBS said on June 20. UBS maintained their Neutral rating on the shares.

Comments

[No Sympathy:]

I am sure UBS would love to raise more capital for Huntington so they can prop up their own capital with their brokerage fees! If Huntington has a profit in the second quarter they will have added capital net of dividends for two consecutive quarters plus raise 569M additional above tier 1 and tangable requirments. So what is the logic of raising more capital that they do not need?

2008 Jul 16 03:08 PM

[Scottsdalem:]

Exactly. I hear all the investment banks saying Huntington need to raise money, but they don't need to raise money. If they really need to raise money, thay would have cut the divident to 0 instead.

If you pay attention to the net income, it's up 26% in this hard economic situation. I see this stock trading near $12 short term.

2008 Jul 17 08:55 PM