JPMorgan Earnings Up 10% on Lower Costs, Legal Expenses

For the full year, the big bank reported EPS of $5.29 on revenues of $96.63 billion, compared with 2014 EPS of $5.29 on revenues of $97.92 billion. Analysts were looking for EPS of $5.91 and revenues of $94.92 billion.

Quarterly profits rose 10% from $4.93 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 to $5.43 billion. The bank’s non-interest expenses declined from $15.41 billion to $14.26 billion (down 7%) driven by lower Corporate & Investment Banking expense, reflecting lower legal expense and lower compensation, as well as Consumer & Community Banking efficiencies.

Quarterly revenues were up 1%, driven by higher revenue in Corporate and Consumer & Community Banking, largely offset by lower revenue in Corporate & Investment Banking and Asset Management. Provision for credit losses rose 49% to $1.25 billion, including a rise in wholesale reserves of $185 million as a result of downgrades, including $124 million in the bank’s oil and gas portfolio and $35 million in metals and mining.

By divisions, net income in the consumer and community banking group rose by $37 million to $2.53 billion, commercial banking net income was down 22% at $525 million and asset management group net income fell 21% to $451 million for the quarter.
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Corporate and investment banking group net income rose 10% from $950 million to $1.04 billion and revenues rose 2%. In the corporate and investment bank group, net income rose 80% from $972 million in the year-ago quarter to $1.75 billion, even though revenues fell by 4%. Commercial banking net income fell 21% from $693 million to $550 million and revenues were down 1%. Asset management net income fell 6% from $540 million to $507 million and revenues fell 5%.

In the corporate group, net income fell by 59% from $547 million to $222 million while revenues rose 164%. The bank recognized a $514 million revenue benefit from a legal settlement and a $178 million benefit “as a result of recognizing the unamortized discount on certain debt securities which were called at par.”

Bank CEO Jamie Dimon said:

We had a good quarter as 2015 came to a close. The businesses generated strong loan growth and credit quality, except for some stress in energy. The consumer business continues to gather deposits, outpacing the industry. Markets were somewhat quieter, and we saw the impact reflected in the results of our trading and Asset Management businesses.

JPMorgan increased its Basel III Tier 1 common ratio to 11.6% in the fourth quarter.

The bank did not offer guidance in its press release, but the consensus estimates call for first-quarter EPS of $1.54 on revenues of $25.06 billion. The EPS estimate for the 2016 fiscal year is $6.14 on revenues of $99.55 billion.

Shares traded up about 1.4% in Thursday’s premarket to $58.15. The current 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $72.70 before the results were announced.