Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. IBKR is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results on Jan. 21, after market close. Its quarterly earnings and revenues are expected to have improved year over year.

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Interactive Brokers’ third-quarter 2024 earnings lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Higher expenses hurt the company's results. On the other hand, higher total GAAP net revenues, growth in customer accounts and an increase in daily average revenue trades (DARTs) acted as tailwinds.

IBKR has a decent earnings surprise history. The company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and missed in two.

IBKR’s Earnings & Sales Projections for Q4

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IBKR’s earnings has moved 8.8% north to $1.86 per share over the past 30 days. The estimate indicates a 22.4% rise from the year-ago quarter’s reported number.

The consensus estimate for sales is pegged at $1.38 billion, suggesting an increase of 20.8%.

Interactive Brokers’ Other Key Q4 Estimates

Client activity was solid during the fourth quarter, with the major indexes touching all-time highs several times, driven by the U.S. presidential election results and subsequent bullish sentiments. This, along with robust DART numbers in all three months of the quarter, is expected to have supported Interactive Brokers’ commission revenues. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for commission revenues is pegged at $456.7 million, indicating a 31.2% jump from the prior-year quarter. Our estimate for the metric is $422.6 million. 

Additionally, relatively high interest rates are expected to have supported IBKR’s net interest income (NII) in the to-be-reported quarter. The Federal Reserve lowered the interest rates by 100 basis points last year, but this is less likely to adversely impact the company’s NII. Thus, the consensus estimate for NII is $822.4 million, implying a 12.7% increase. We project NII to be $815.2 million.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for other loss is pegged at $10.5 million against other income of $6 million in the prior-year quarter. Our estimate for other loss is the same as the consensus number.

On the cost front, total operating expenses are likely to have remained elevated as IBKR invests in key areas to enhance platform capabilities, drive product innovation, improve customer support and build upon regulatory and compliance functions. We anticipate total non-interest expenses of $318.7 million, indicating a fall of 1.3% year over year.

What Our Model Unveils for IBKR

Our quantitative model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Interactive Brokers this time. This is because it doesn’t have the right combination of the two key ingredients — a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better.

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

Earnings ESP: Interactive Brokers has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

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

Finance Sector Stocks Worth a Look

Here are a couple of finance sector stocks that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this time:

The Earnings ESP for Zions Bancorporation ZION is +0.66% and it carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present. The company is slated to report fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results on Jan. 21.

Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ZION’s quarterly earnings has moved almost 1% upward to $1.26.

East West Bancorp EWBC is scheduled to release fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results on Jan. 23. The company, which carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present, has an Earnings ESP of +0.47%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

EWBC’s quarterly earnings estimates have moved marginally lower to $2.14 over the past month.

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Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (ZION) : Free Stock Analysis Report

East West Bancorp, Inc. (EWBC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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