BankFinancial Extends Share Buyback Program, Declares Dividend

HomeStreet (HMST) came out with a quarterly loss of $0.32 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.20. This compares to earnings of $0.12 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -60%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this real estate lender would post a loss of $0.24 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.23, delivering a surprise of 4.17%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates just once.

HomeStreet, which belongs to the Zacks Financial - Savings and Loan industry, posted revenues of $39.68 million for the quarter ended September 2024, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.58%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $49.38 million. The company has not been able to beat consensus revenue estimates over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

HomeStreet shares have added about 38.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 22.1%.

What's Next for HomeStreet?

While HomeStreet 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 this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such 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 HomeStreet: 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. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is -$0.13 on $43.7 million in revenues for the coming quarter and -$0.87 on $171.6 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Financial - Savings and Loan is currently in the top 13% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

BankFinancial (BFIN), another stock in the same industry, has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2024.

This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.20 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +5.3%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

BankFinancial's revenues are expected to be $14.2 million, up 0.1% from the year-ago quarter.

Zacks Investment Research

Provident Financial (PROV) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.28 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.25 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.25 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 12%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this holding company for Provident Savings Bank would post earnings of $0.23 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.28, delivering a surprise of 21.74%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Provident Financial, which belongs to the Zacks Financial - Savings and Loan industry, posted revenues of $9.52 million for the quarter ended September 2024, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.26%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $9.89 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Provident Financial shares have added about 22.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 21.8%.

What's Next for Provident Financial?

While Provident 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 this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such 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 Provident 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. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.28 on $10.09 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1 on $39.19 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Financial - Savings and Loan is currently in the top 20% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

One other stock from the same industry, BankFinancial (BFIN), is yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2024.

This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.20 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +5.3%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

BankFinancial's revenues are expected to be $14.2 million, up 0.1% from the year-ago quarter.

Zacks Investment Research

BankFinancial just reported results for the second quarter of 2024.

• BankFinancial reported earnings per share of 17 cents. This met the analyst estimate for EPS of 17 cents.
• The company reported revenue of $13.85 million.
• This was 10.11% better than the analyst estimate for revenue of $12.58 million.

InvestorPlace Earnings is a project that leverages data from TradeSmith to automate coverage of quarterly earnings reports. InvestorPlace Earnings distills key takeaways including earnings per share and revenue, as well as how a company stacks up to analyst estimates. These articles are published without human intervention, allowing us to inform our readers of the latest figures as quickly as possible. To report any concerns or inaccuracies, please contact us at editor@investorplace.com.

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Investors in BankFinancial Corporation BFIN need to pay close attention to the stock based on moves in the options market lately. That is because the Oct 18, 2024 $7.50 Put had some of the highest implied volatility of all equity options today.

What is Implied Volatility?

Implied volatility shows how much movement the market is expecting in the future. Options with high levels of implied volatility suggest that investors in the underlying stocks are expecting a big move in one direction or the other. It could also mean there is an event coming up soon that may cause a big rally or a huge sell-off. However, implied volatility is only one piece of the puzzle when putting together an options trading strategy.

What do the Analysts Think?

Clearly, options traders are pricing in a big move for BankFinancial shares, but what is the fundamental picture for the company? Currently, BankFinancial is a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) in the Financial - Savings and Loan industry that ranks in the Bottom 30% of our Zacks Industry Rank. Over the last 30 days, no analyst increased the earnings estimates for the current quarter, while one has dropped the estimates. The net effect has taken our Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter from 21 cents per share to 20 cents in that period.

Given the way analysts feel about BankFinancial right now, this huge implied volatility could mean there’s a trade developing. Oftentimes, options traders look for options with high levels of implied volatility to sell premium. This is a strategy many seasoned traders use because it captures decay. At expiration, the hope for these traders is that the underlying stock does not move as much as originally expected.

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