Principal Financial (PFG) Q1 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

Principal Financial Group, Inc. PFG is set to report first-quarter 2017 results on Apr 27, after the market closes. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 10.43%. Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors to be Considered this Past Quarter

Principal Financial’s asset under management is likely to have improved due to strong performances at asset management and asset accumulation segments. Premiums and fees at Individual Life and Individual Life are expected to have grown in the to-be-reported quarter

Investment income is anticipated to have benefited from the slight improvement in interest rates. The quarter enjoyed full impact of the Dec 2016 increase and few days of Mar 2017 increase.

The company’s fee-based model is also likely to have boosted revenues.

Continued buybacks should have provided additional upside to the bottom line.

However, escalating expenses might have weighed on margin expansion.

With respect to the surprise trend, Principal Financial delivered positive surprises in three out of the last four quarters with an average beat of 4.90%. The stock price has been fluctuating over the last few days. We wait to see how the stock fares post first-quarter earnings release.

Principal Financial Group Inc Price and EPS Surprise

 

Principal Financial Group Inc Price and EPS Surprise | Principal Financial Group Inc Quote

Earnings Whisper

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Principal Financial is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Principal Financial has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at $1.17. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Principal Financial carries a Zacks Rank #2, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, an Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult.

We caution against Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies from the investment management industry that you may want to consider as these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Apollo Global Management, LLC APO has an Earnings ESP of +3.23% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is set to report first-quarter earnings on Apr 28. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

ARES MANAGEMENT LP ARES has an Earnings ESP of +2.56% and a Zacks Rank #3. The partnership is set to report first-quarter earnings on May 8.

Manning & Napier, Inc. MN has an Earnings ESP of +14.29% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is set to report first-quarter earnings on May 3.

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Apollo Global Management, LLC (APO): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Ares Management L.P. (ARES): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Manning & Napier, Inc. (MN): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Principal Financial Group Inc (PFG): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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