Monday, January 23, 2012

Investopedia: Bank Of America's Story Not About Lousy Earnings


Wall Street has never been an especially fair place, and that's certainly the case with banks these days. Said differently, analysts and institutional investors expect different things from different players - for gasping money center banks like Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) it's about survival and recovery; for super-regionals like U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) it's more about growth and profitability in the new post-crash market.
(For related reading, see How To Decode A Company's Earnings Reports.)

Poor Operating Performance in the Fourth Quarter
Bank of America seemed to beat expectations on the basis of reported earnings, reporting 15 cents per diluted share versus a loss of 16 cents reported a year ago. Stripping out charges and gains, it looks like Bank of America more or less broke even this quarter (including a 7 cents reserve release). Admittedly, no two analysts or investors may agree completely on what's "core" and what's exceptional, but the reality is that operating performance was weak.


To read more, please click below:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Bank-Of-Americas-Story-Not-About-Lousy-Earnings-BAC-C-USB-WFC-PNC0123.aspx

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