Bank of America Q3 Profit Beats Expectations

Bank of America Corp BAC reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter on Wednesday. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank reported quarterly net income of $4.51 billion, or $0.37 per share, versus a year-ago net loss of $232 million, or $0.04 per share. Its revenue, net of interest expense, on an FTE basis declined to $20.91 billion from $21.43 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.33 per share on revenue of $20.77 billion. The average estimate among 134 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.36 per share and revenue of $21.18 billion. Revenue for Consumer Banking rose 1 percent year-over-year to $7.8 billion in the third quarter, while revenue for Global Wealth and Investment Management declined $198 million to $4.5 billion. Revenue for Global Markets fell 2 percent to $4.1 billion. Net interest income, on an FTE basis, declined 7 percent to $9.7 billion in the third quarter, while noninterest income rose 2 percent to $11.2 billion. Noninterest expense declined 31 percent to $13.8 billion. "We saw solid results this quarter by continuing to execute our long-term strategy," said Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan. "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 shares gained 0.71 percent to $15.63 in pre-market trading.