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Ameriprise (AMP) to Post Q4 Earnings: Is a Beat in Store?

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Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (AMP - Free Report) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and 2019 results on Jan 29, after the market closes. While its earnings are likely to have increased in the quarter on a year-over-year basis, revenues are expected to have witnessed a decline.

In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Results benefited from growth in assets under management (AUM) and assets under administration (AUA) along with marginally higher revenues.

Ameriprise has an impressive earnings surprise history. Its earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 3.9%.

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
 

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Quote

However, activities of the company in the fourth quarter did not encourage analysts to revise earnings estimates upward. Thus, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its earnings of $4.24 for the to-be-reported quarter has been unchanged over the past seven days. Nevertheless, the figure indicates 11.6% growth from the prior-year quarter’s reported number.

The consensus estimate for sales is pegged at $3.01 billion, which suggests a 5.4% decline from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Before we take a look at what our quantitative model predicts for the fourth quarter, let’s check the factors that are likely to have influenced the company’s performance.

Key Factors to Note

Ameriprise has been witnessing net outflows in the Asset Management segment over the past several quarters, which has been negatively impacting AUM and AUA to an extent. However, the Advice & Wealth Management segment is likely to have recorded growth in assets in the fourth quarter, based on expectations of improved advisor productivity. Thus, total assets are likely to have risen in the quarter.

Supported by an expected increase in assets, the related fee is also likely to have been positively impacted.

While the company’s initiatives to focus on cost management have resulted in controlled general and administrative expenses, overall costs are likely to have remained elevated in the quarter due to costs related to advertising campaign and technology upgrades.

Earnings Whispers

According to our quantitative model, chances of Ameriprise beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the fourth quarter are high. This is because it has the right combination of the two key ingredients — a positive Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better, which is required to be confident of an earnings beat.

You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Earnings ESP: Ameriprise has an Earnings ESP of +0.39%.

Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Other Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are some other finance stocks that you may want to consider as these too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases, per our model.

SEI Investments Company (SEIC - Free Report) is slated to release results on Jan 29. It presently has an Earnings ESP of +2.35% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. (PB - Free Report) is slated to release results on Jan 29. It currently has an Earnings ESP of +1.35% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Legg Mason, Inc. has an Earnings ESP of +1.59% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. The company is slated to release results on Jan 29.

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