News
Heartland Financial (HTLF) Misses Second-Quarter Earnings and Revenue Estimates
Heartland Financial (HTLF) reported quarterly earnings of $1.15 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.16 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.14 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -0.86%. A quarter ago, this multi-bank holding company was expected to post earnings of $1.14 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.22, delivering a surprise of 7.02%.
Over the past four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates twice.
Heartland Financial, which belongs to the Zacks Banks – Midwest industry, posted revenues of $176.95 million for the quarter ended June 2024, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.68%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $179.63 million. The company has failed to beat consensus revenue estimates in the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock’s immediate price movement based on recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management’s commentary on the earnings call.
Heartland Financial shares are up about 40.2% since the start of the year, compared with the S&P 500’s gain of 14.5%.
What’s next for Heartland Financial?
While Heartland Financial has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors’ minds is: What’s next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address it is the company’s earnings outlook. This includes not only current consensus earnings expectations for the upcoming quarter(s), but also how those expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track these revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Heartland Financial: mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company’s just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. Therefore, the stock is expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how the estimates for the upcoming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the coming days. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.11 on $183.18 million in revenue for the upcoming quarter and $4.50 on $730.71 million in revenue for the current fiscal year.
The story continues
Investors should be aware of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on stock performance as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Banks – Midwest currently ranks in the top 26% of the 250+ Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
Another stock in the broader Zacks Finance sector, Reinsurance Group (RGA), has yet to report earnings for the quarter ended June 2024. Results are expected to be released on August 1.
This reinsurance company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $4.94 per share in its upcoming report, representing a year-over-year change of +12.3%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.4% upward over the last 30 days to the current level.
Reinsurance Group revenue is expected to be $4.92 billion, up 14.9% from the year-ago quarter.
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Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (HTLF): Free Stock Analysis Report
Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA): Free Stock Analysis Report