In December 2018, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) announced its most recent earnings update, which indicated that the company experienced a robust tailwind, leading to a double-digit earnings growth of 19%. Below, I've laid out key numbers on how market analysts view Huntington Bancshares's earnings growth outlook over the next couple of years and whether the future looks even brighter than the past. Note that I will be looking at net income excluding extraordinary items to get a better understanding of the underlying drivers of earnings.

Check out our latest analysis for Huntington Bancshares

Market analysts' consensus outlook for this coming year seems rather subdued, with earnings increasing by a single digit 6.8%. The growth outlook in the following year seems much more optimistic with rates reaching double digit 10% compared to today’s earnings, and finally hitting US$1.5b by 2022.

While it is helpful to be aware of the rate of growth each year relative to today’s figure, it may be more insightful evaluating the rate at which the earnings are growing on average every year. The pro of this method is that it removes the impact of near term flucuations and accounts for the overarching direction of Huntington Bancshares's earnings trajectory over time, which may be more relevant for long term investors. To compute this rate, I've appended a line of best fit through analyst consensus of forecasted earnings. The slope of this line is the rate of earnings growth, which in this case is 4.6%. This means that, we can anticipate Huntington Bancshares will grow its earnings by 4.6% every year for the next couple of years.

Next Steps:

For Huntington Bancshares, I've compiled three key factors you should look at:

1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.

2. Valuation: What is HBAN worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether HBAN is currently mispriced by the market.

3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of HBAN? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.