Northwest Bancorp.

Northwest Bancorp. (NWSB - Snapshot Report) reported impressive second-quarter results in July that included a big jump in earnings from last year. Analysts have raised their guidance in response to the strong performance, and the company's share price recently broke above a key short-term level of resistance.

Northwest Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Northwest Savings Bank, a regional bank that offers banking and financial services. The company was founded in 1896, has a market cap of $1.38 billion and is headquartered in Warren, Pennsylvania.

Second-Quarter Results

Bucking the trend in the financial sector and gaining a boost from the recent bailout of Fannie and Freddie, shares of Northwest Bancorp have been posting impressive gains for the last 2 months. The company's second-quarter results helped showcase its ability to sidestep some of the problems that have been plaguing other financial companies.

Net income was up 17.4% from the same period last year to $14.4 million. This produced earnings of 30 cents per share, ahead of analyst estimates of 28 cents per share. In spite of a small miss last quarter, this company has beaten analyst estimates by an average of 8.84% over the last four quarters.

Balance Sheet Transparency

Northwest Bancorp has done a great job of shielding itself from risky investments that have been problematic for other financial institutions. In order to provide an accurate reading of its balance sheet and more transparency to investors, the company noted that it routinely monitors its investment portfolio for impairments and promptly records writedowns when these circumstances are considered to be ongoing.

Chiming in on this issue was company CEO William Wagner, saying that, "Although our nonperforming commercial loans have continued to increase, a recent review indicates that the value of these assets remains stable, and we do not anticipate substantial losses at this time. Northwest is committed to reducing the ratio of nonperforming assets and we will continue to be diligent in our oversight of asset quality."

Analyst Estimates

After the solid quarter analysts boosted their earnings estimates. The current-year estimate now stands at $1.23 per share, up from $1.10 per share 60 days ago. The next-year estimate is pegged at $1.50 per share, a 22% earnings growth projection.

The Chart

As previously mentioned, shares of NWSB have been rallying in response to the company's strong quarter, advancing to over $29 from less than $20. More recently, this stock eclipsed a short-term level of resistance and logged a new 5-month high. Take a look at the chart below.