First Merchants (FRME) Q3 Earnings Top Estimates

Core Insights - First Merchants (FRME) reported quarterly earnings of $0.99 per share, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.96 per share, and showing an increase from $0.95 per share a year ago, resulting in an earnings surprise of +3.13% [1] - The company posted revenues of $166.14 million for the quarter ended September 2025, slightly missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.07%, but up from $155.98 million year-over-year [2] - First Merchants has surpassed consensus EPS estimates in all four of the last quarters, but has only topped revenue estimates once in the same period [2] Earnings Outlook - The sustainability of the stock's price movement will depend on management's commentary during the earnings call and future earnings expectations [3][4] - The current consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming quarter is $0.96 on revenues of $167.2 million, and for the current fiscal year, it is $3.84 on revenues of $658.1 million [7] Industry Context - The Zacks Industry Rank indicates that the Banks - Midwest sector is in the top 35% of over 250 Zacks industries, suggesting a favorable environment for stocks in this category [8] - Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions, which can be tracked by investors or through tools like the Zacks Rank [5][6]