Lazard (LAZ) Q2 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates

Industry Overview - The Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry is currently ranked in the top 40% of over 250 Zacks industries, indicating a favorable outlook for the sector [1] - Historical data shows that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1 [1] Company Performance - Lazard reported quarterly earnings of $0.52 per share, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.40 per share, and showing an increase from $0.24 per share a year ago [9] - The company achieved revenues of $684.64 million for the quarter ended June 2024, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.89% and up from $620.03 million in the previous year [10] - Over the last four quarters, Lazard has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times [3][10] - Lazard shares have increased approximately 24.5% since the beginning of the year, outperforming the S&P 500's gain of 13.8% [11] Earnings Outlook - The current consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming quarter is $0.60 on revenues of $677.21 million, and for the current fiscal year, it is $2.73 on revenues of $2.88 billion [13] - The estimate revisions trend for Lazard is currently unfavorable, resulting in a Zacks Rank 4 (Sell) for the stock, indicating expected underperformance in the near future [6] - The sustainability of the stock's price movement will largely depend on management's commentary during the earnings call [4]