Despite Earnings Win, Wells Fargo Sinks on Investor Sentiment

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) reported its first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. Warren Buffett’s bank said it had $0.99 in earnings per share (EPS) on $22.2 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates had called for $0.97 in EPS on revenue of $21.60 billion. In the same period of last year, it posted EPS of $1.04 and $21.28 billion in revenue.

Despite beating estimates, Wells Fargo investors seemed taken aback by these earnings after JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) wowed earlier this week, seemingly setting the bar higher for these other mega-banks.

In the first quarter, Wells Fargo had total average loans of $927.2 billion, up $64.0 billion, or 7%, from first quarter 2015. Total average deposits came in at $1.2 trillion, up $44.6 billion, or 4%, with an average deposit cost of 10 basis points.

Total loans were $947.3 billion, up $30.7 billion, or 3%, from the December 2015 quarter, including $24.9 billion from the GE Capital acquisitions.
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Wells Fargo maintained strong capital levels and continued its share repurchases during this quarter with a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 10.6%. Book value per share for the quarter totaled $34.58.

During this quarter the mega-bank had a 1.21% return on assets and an 11.75% return on equity.

John Stumpf, chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo, commented:

Wells Fargo’s first quarter results reflected the benefit of our diversified business model as we managed challenges presented by a volatile operating environment for our industry. We again generated solid growth in the fundamental drivers of long-term value creation: loans, deposits and capital. We also completed two important acquisitions from GE Capital, which are great additions to our company and demonstrate the benefit of our strong financial position. We remain focused on meeting the financial needs of our consumer and business customers, and I believe we are well positioned for the future.

Shares of Wells Fargo closed Wednesday up 2.6% to $49.03, with a consensus analyst price target of $55.57 and a 52-week trading range of $44.50 to $58.77. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was down 1% at $48.50 in early trading indications Thursday.