National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) will release its 2025 financial year first quarter trading update next Wednesday, 19 February 2025.
NAB is the second largest bank in Australia by market capitalisation.
Next week's trading update will be the first data from the bank in the 2025 financial year.
NAB's 2024 FY report revealed a 2% revenue decline and an 8.1% cash earnings fall to $7.1 billion.
What should current and future investors in NAB shares look for in next week's report?
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Earnings
Those looking for updates on NAB's financial performance can look to key indicators like revenue, cash earnings and net interest margin (NIM).
NIM measures how much the interest NAB receives on its loans exceeds the interest it pays to its depositors. This number can help reveal any pressures from funding costs or loan pricing changes.
Furthermore, it will be interesting to see if its expenses have continued to rise after a 4.5% increase in FY24.
It's important to note that the corresponding report last year did not include net profit after tax (NPAT).
Dividends
Those eagerly awaiting a dividend announcement will have to wait until May when the bank releases its half-yearly results.
However, according to the CommSec trading platform, NAB is forecast to provide a dividend yield of 4.49%.
This would be 1.78% higher than the current offering.
Buy, sell or hold NAB shares?
Those who have held shares in NAB have enjoyed big returns over the last 12 months. NAB shares are up 23.83% since this time last year.
At the time of writing, the price is hovering around $40.00 a share, which is close to an 18-year high.
This is despite the company's lack of profit growth last year, which is usually a factor in driving up the share price of ASX blue-chip shares like NAB.
For this reason, one broker currently lists NAB as a sell.
However, the bank shares have mostly steamed ahead over the last year, which might make it difficult for owners to jump overboard now.
