Shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) gained in pre-market trading on Friday after the bank reported earnings in Q1 of $1.23 per share versus $0.91 in the same period a year back beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.13 per share.
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The bank posted revenues of $20.73 billion in the first quarter, up by 17.9% year-over-year and ahead of analysts’ expectations of $20.1 billion.
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf commented, “We had strong results in the first quarter including revenue growth from both the fourth quarter and a year ago, and we continued to make progress on our efficiency initiatives. Delinquencies and net charge-offs continued to slowly increase, as expected. Our CET1 ratio, which was already strong, increased and we resumed our repurchase program, buying back $4 billion in common stock.”
WFC’s net interest income jumped 45% primarily due to the “impact of higher interest rates, higher loan balances, and lower mortgage-backed securities premium amortization, partially offset by lower deposit balances.”
Overall, Wall Street analysts are cautiously optimistic about WFC stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on nine Buys and six Holds.
