Banking, finance, and taxes

Why BofA and Wells Fargo Earnings Are So Different Than JPMorgan's

Chris Lange

Published: April 14, 2016 12:35 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 10:45 am

With earnings season just kicking off, we are seeing the mega-banks as among the first to report. Despite the financial sector sliding thus far in 2016, these banks all had fairly positive earnings, but for different reasons.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) benefited from solid consumer and commercial banking activity, Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) saw relatively positive results from a diversified business model and its mortgage department, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) had solid loan and deposit growth in the first quarter.

Only one of these three companies is actually trading under book value. JPMorgan had a tangible book value per share of $48.96, Wells Fargo had $34.58 and Bank of America had $16.17.

In terms of trading revenue, each of these banks was hit during a very bearish first quarter. Bank of America had an 18% slide in profit as its trading business was hit by concerns about a global economic slowdown and a somewhat uncertain horizon on interest rates. Despite this, investors are still very bullish on this bank.

JPMorgan’s corporate and investment banking group net income fell 22% and revenues fell 15%. Lending revenue was down 31%, reflecting mark-to-market losses on hedges of accrual loans and lower gains on securities received from restructurings. Although this sounds negative, and even in this challenging market, clients continued to turn to JPMorgan for deposits and loans.

Wells Fargo completed two important acquisitions from GE Capital in this past quarter, which are great additions to the company and appear to demonstrate the benefit of its strong financial position. However investors were not entirely positive on the stock after the earnings report. Part of this can be attributed to its falling profit as its loan provisions surged.

Overall, when JPMorgan reported its earnings earlier this week, it set the standard for the other banks reporting after. Some analysts even adjusted their estimates after this report. Bank of America lived up to these new expectations, but Wells Fargo, although solid, didn’t seem to clear this bar.

Shares of Bank of America were trading up 2.4% at $14.12 on Thursday, with a consensus analyst price target of $17.40 and a 52-week trading range of $10.99 to $18.48.

Wells Fargo shares were recently trading at $49.06, within a 52-week range $44.50 to $58.77. The consensus price target is $55.57.

JPMorgan was trading up 1.8% at $62.86. The consensus price target is $69.50, and the 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61.