S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, January 19, 2012. Capital One Financial is a financial services company that markets a variety of financial products and services through its banking and non-banking subsidiaries.

Capital One Financial Corp. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet.

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $1.53 per share, no change from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from $1.49. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at $1.53 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 13% versus last year to $7.55.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company beat estimates by 18 cents, coming in at net income of $1.88 a share versus the estimate of profit of $1.70 a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $4.08 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 3% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $16.36 billion for the year, a rise of 1.2% from last year’s revenue of $16.17 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 15 analysts rating it as a buy, one rating it as a sell and four rating it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit rose 1.2% to $813 million ($1.77 a share) from $803 million ($1.76 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue fell 0.3% to $4.71 billion from $4.73 billion.

Key Stats:

The company has seen net income rise in three straight quarters. Net income rose 49.8% in the second quarter and 59.7% in the first quarter.

Revenue has fallen for the past three quarters. Revenue fell 2.3% in second quarter from the year earlier and 8.3% in the first quarter.

Competitors to Watch: American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC), Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC), SLM Corporation (NYSE:SLM), Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIBC), and HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE:HBC).

Stock Price Performance: During October 18, 2011 to January 13, 2012, the stock price had risen $7.76 (18.9%) from $41.13 to $48.89. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between April 18, 2011 and April 27, 2011 when shares rose for seven-straight days, rising 12.1% (+$5.98) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between September 14, 2011 and September 22, 2011 when shares fell for seven-straight days, falling 6.3% (-$2.72) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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