Why Bank of America Earnings Look So Good

Credit loss provision totaled $806 million in the quarter, up from $636 million in the same period last year. Net charge-offs declined by $168 million to $923 million. The drop in net charge-offs was attributed to an improvement in consumer portfolio trends, partially offset by higher commercial charge-offs. The third-quarter 2015 reserve release of $126 million compared with the year-ago total of $407 million.

Non-interest expense dropped 31% to $13.8 billion. Litigation expenses dropped from $4 billion in the second quarter of last year to $175 million. Excluding litigation expenses, non-interest expenses fell 4%.

Litigation expense in the year-ago quarter totaled $6 billion. That total fell to $231 million this year, and there is Bank of America’s secret. Net income in the third quarter rose from a net loss of $232 million a year ago to $4.51 billion this year.

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The bank did not provide guidance in its earnings release. The consensus estimate for fourth-quarter EPS is $0.36 on revenues of $21.05 billion. For the full year, the consensus calls for EPS of $1.41 on revenues of $85.39 billion.

Net interest income fell sequentially from $10.49 billion and year over year from $10.22 billion to $9.51 billion.

Brian Moynihan, the bank’s CEO, said:

The key drivers of our business — deposit taking and lending to both our consumer and corporate clients — moved in the right direction this quarter and our trading results on behalf of clients remained fairly stable in challenging capital markets conditions. Our balanced approach to serving customers and clients is on track as the economy continues to move forward.

Bank of America increased its estimated Basel III Tier 1 transition common ratio to 11.6% in the third quarter. The bank also raised its tangible book value per share by $0.48 to $15.50.

Shares traded higher by about 1.9% in the premarket Wednesday, at $15.81. The current 52-week range is $14.60 to $18.48. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $18.90 before the results were announced.

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