Public Storage Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, November 8, 2012. Public Storage is a real estate investment trust (REIT) with a focus on the acquisition, development, ownership, and operation of self-storage facilities.

Public Storage Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $1.68 per share, a rise of 20.9% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. The average estimate is the same as three months ago. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It also has not changed during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 4.7% compared to last year’s $6.21.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company missed estimates by 15 cents, coming in at net income of $1.38 per share versus a mean estimate of profit of $1.53 per share. In the first quarter, the company beat estimates by 2 cents.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $435 million in revenue this quarter, a rise of 4.5% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $1.71 billion for the year, a rise of 6.2% from last year’s revenue of $1.61 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between September 7, 2012 and November 2, 2012, the stock price had fallen $6.52 (-4.4%), from $146.82 to $140.30. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between August 27, 2012 and September 4, 2012, when shares rose for six straight days, increasing 2.9% (+$4.16) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between September 14, 2012 and September 27, 2012 when shares fell for 10 straight days, dropping 6.6% (-$9.77) over that span.

A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit fell 4% to $198.1 million (77 cents a share) from $206.4 million (77 cents a share) the year earlier, missing analyst expectations. Revenue fell 3.1% to $443.9 million from $458 million.

Key Stats:

An income boost this time around would be welcome news after profit declines in the past two quarters. Net income dropped 0.1% in the first quarter and then again in the second quarter.

On the top line, the company is hoping to use this earnings announcement to snap a string of two-straight quarters of revenue declines. Revenue fell 0.2% in the first quarter and dropped again in the second quarter.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with 11 of 18 analysts surveyed giving that rating.

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

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