Erste Group Bank cut its fiscal 2027 earnings estimate for Charles Schwab on Thursday, trimming its view even after the brokerage firm’s latest results came in ahead of Wall Street expectations. Analyst S. Lingnau now expects Charles Schwab to earn $6.82 per share for FY2027, down from a prior estimate of $6.85.
The revised outlook lands against a backdrop of much lower near-term expectations. The consensus estimate for Schwab's current full-year earnings is $4.22 per share, leaving the company well below the longer-range estimate even after the latest cut. On Wednesday, shares opened at $93.30, with a 52-week range of $67.60 to $107.50.
Charles Schwab has been drawing a steady stream of analyst commentary since the start of the year. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $131.00 price target on Jan. 22. Citigroup reaffirmed a market outperform rating on Jan. 12. Jefferies Financial Group cut its target from $122.00 to $118.00 and kept a buy rating Monday, while Piper Sandler raised its target from $100.00 to $105.00 and assigned a neutral rating on Jan. 14. Bank of America had already lifted its target from $88.00 to $91.00 and held an underperform rating on Dec. 10.
That split leaves the stock with one Strong Buy rating, seventeen Buy ratings, four Hold ratings and one Sell rating, for a consensus Moderate Buy and an average target price of $115.95, according to MarketBeat.com. The spread says as much about the market’s uncertainty as it does about Schwab’s numbers.
Schwab’s last earnings report, released Jan. 21, gave bulls fresh evidence. The company reported quarterly earnings of $1.39 per share on revenue of $6.34 billion, topping the consensus estimates of $1.32 per share and $6.19 billion. Revenue rose 18.9% from a year earlier, and the company set FY 2026 guidance at 5.700 to 5.800 EPS.
The gap between the strong quarter and the cautious longer-term estimate is the tension now sitting underneath the stock. Schwab carries a market capitalization of $162.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 0.90, with debt-to-equity of 0.52 and both current and quick ratios at 0.62. Institutional investors have also been active, with Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raising its stake by 16.2% in the fourth quarter to 364,328 shares worth $36,400,000 after buying an additional 50,725 shares, while Cornerstone Planning LLC bought a new $302,000 position and World Investment Advisors increased its stake by 6.4%.
For now, analysts are signaling that Charles Schwab can keep growing, but not without stops and starts. The next move that matters is whether the company can keep turning its better-than-expected operating results into a higher earnings outlook that the market will believe.
