Earnings Preview: Marshal & Ilsley Corp.

Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (MI) is expected to report Q3 earnings before market open  Wednesday Oct. 15, with a conference call scheduled for 8:00 am.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for EPS of 21c on revenue of $649.93M. The consensus range for EPS is (25c) to 38c, while the consensus range for revenue is $640.03M to $660M, according to First Call.

Analyst Views

Morgan Keegan today upgraded Marshall & Ilsley, along with a number of other regional banks. Morgan Keegan, which raised the company to Outperform from Market Perform, believes that the federal government's plan to acquire stock in banks will significantly help the financial sector. The firm also believes that Marshall & Ilsey has a strong capital base, and it forecasts that the bank's stock price will increase as more investors begin buying the shares of financial companies.

On the other hand, Merrill Lynch warned late last month that regional banks, including Marshall & Ilsley, could encounter more competition for deposits following the decision by Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) to become commercial banks. In addition, Merrill believes that the government's bailout will force regional banks to take more write-downs as they are forced to recognize the depressed value of some of their securities.

Comments

[Evan Grey Owl:]

Where does the consensus come from, if not from analysts? Inflated so-called consensus figures before earnings just set people up for disappointment. Which is harmful to all investors who are long. How do they profit, then - these inflated-consensus-gen... By taking up short positions and then inflating estimates just before earnings? It should be a crime.

2008 Oct 15 01:49 AM

[Evan Grey Owl:]

That was "inflated consensus generators"

2008 Oct 15 01:51 AM

[MSmailbox:]

This has been an awefully good trade for me, this year. I've been in and out several times and collected a huge divdend, last quarter. As I've said here, many times before, MI is doing everything right and has been since before the crisis started to unfold. I have a CD and my money market with them, too. I guess that you could say that I am very confident in them. I am sorry that I can't afford to be in them, right now, but I'm locked into a POT position that has almost dragged me down into a margin call. If POT starts rising above $108, then I plan to sell some and look at MI and ALV, too. The only stock which has made me more money, this year, was EDS, or perhaps I should say, HP/EDS! MI is a staple for me. I have absolutely no idea what their earnings will be, so I'm going to throw the dart and say, .27 cent, on 657 million, since it won't hurt anybody, because the earnings come out this morning, before the open. Good luck to the MI holders (who are LONG)!

2008 Oct 15 09:21 AM

[MSmailbox:]

Regarding "inflated consesus generators..." Maybe their should be analysts, who analyze the analysts and report their names and who their with. Anybody who's consistantly wrong, high or low, or can be correlated to having opposite positions in the company they're analyzing, outght to at least be flagged. I think they're in a position of trust and that makes them more accountable, for their estimates and simultaneous positions. Probably, hard to track, though.

2008 Oct 15 09:32 AM

[MSmailbox:]

I finally got the spelling of their, they're and there, correct. I must need Folgers!

2008 Oct 15 09:34 AM