Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Posts Earnings Beat

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) reported that for Q1, earnings improved from the prior-year period, and topped analysts’ expectations

The bank holding company posted Q1 net income available to common shareholders of $367 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, compared with the prior-year period’s $309 million, or $0.36 per diluted share. Analysts polled by Capital IQ were expecting EPS of $0.37.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) shares closed the last trading session at 18.91. In the current trading session the stock reached as high as 19.10 and dipped down to 18.89. Fifth Third Bancorp, a NMS listed company, has a current market cap of 15.47B and on average over the past 3 months has seen 8779180 shares trade hands on a daily basis.

On a technical level the stock has a 50 Day Moving Average of 19.16. Based on a recent trade, this puts the equity at -0.88% away from that average. In looking at the 200-day average, the stock is -1.76% away from that mark. In comparing the stock’s current level to its extended history, the stock is trading -12.93% away from its 52-week high of 21.81 and +10.79% away from the stock’s low point over the past 52 weeks, which was 17.14.

There are a number of sell-side research brokerages which cover the stock and offer projections on earnings and future stock movement. On a consensus basis, analysts have a one year target price of 21.32. The company has a trailing 12-month EPS of 1.66. The consensus analyst estimates according to First Call for the next quarter is 0.40. The current year EPS estimate on the stock is 1.62 and the EPS estimate for next year sits at 1.82.

The price to earnings ratio, or the valuation ratio of a company’s current share price compared to its per-share earnings sits at 11.44. This is an important indicator as a higher ratio typically suggests that investors are expecting higher future earnings growth compared to companies in the same industry with lower price to earnings ratios. When calculating in the EPS estimates for the current year from sell-side analysts, the Price to current year EPS stands at 11.72. Potential shareholders looking further ahead, will note that the Price to next year’s EPS is 10.43.