Fifth Third Bancorp Swings To $333 Million Profit (FITB)

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bancorp FITB announced after the market closed on Wednesday that it beat consensus Wall Street earnings estimates. Fifth Third Bancorp reported 4th quarter net income of $333 million, or 33 cents per share, compared to a loss of $98 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier. According to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters, the average Wall Street estimate called for earnings of 24 cents per share. President and CEO Kevin Kabat said, "This quarter's earnings results continued to reflect improvements across the board. Net income of $333 million increased 40 percent from last quarter and EPS increased 50 percent. Return on assets (ROA) was 1.18 percent and return on average common equity (ROE) was 10.4 percent. We expect these returns to be lower in the first quarter of 2011 due to seasonality and a higher effective tax rate, but we currently expect ROA to meet or exceed approximately 1 percent next quarter, with second quarter ROA similar to this quarter's levels." Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) closed Wednesday trading at $14.61 per share and was down 2.7% at $14.21 per share during after hours trading. Analysts covering the company's stock give it a consensus price target of $15.01 per share. Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company that operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, and Investment Advisors. Read more from Benzinga's Company news.