MetLife Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component MetLife (NYSE:MET) will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, October 31, 2012. MetLife provides individual insurance, employee benefits, and financial services.

MetLife Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for net income of $1.28 per share, a rise of 15.3% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from $1.27. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It has risen during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of $5.27 per share, a rise of 5% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company beat estimates by 8 cents, coming in at net income of $1.33 a share versus the estimate of profit of $1.25 a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates.

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A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 85.5% to $2.29 billion ($2.12 a share) from $1.24 billion ($1.13 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 7.3% to $18.4 billion from $17.15 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between August 1, 2012 and October 25, 2012, the stock price rose $5.22 (17.2%), from $30.43 to $35.65. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between August 1, 2012 and August 10, 2012, when shares rose for eight straight days, increasing 14.9% (+$4.54) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between November 11, 2011 and November 23, 2011 when shares fell for nine straight days, dropping 15.8% (-$5.21) over that span.

Analyst Ratings: With 15 analysts rating the stock a buy, none rating it a sell and two rating the stock a hold, there are indications of a bullish stance by analysts.

Key Stats:

After experiencing income increases the last three quarters, the company is hoping to keep the good news coming with this earnings announcement. Net income rose 1309.8% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year and 48.4% in the first quarter before increasing again in the second quarter.

On the top line, the company is looking to build on four-straight revenue increases heading into this earnings announcement. Revenue rose 64.4% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, 30.4% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year and 4.9% in the first quarter before increasing again in the second quarter.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts predict a rise of 0.8% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $17.15 billion.

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

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