Investopedia: PNC Delivers A Surprisingly Average Quarter

Being a well-respected company can have its drawbacks. It's hard to find anyone who doesn't generally think well of PNC Financial (NYSE:PNC), and this regional bank has done well both through and coming out of the credit crunch. With that excellence of execution also comes higher expectations and though PNC actually did pretty well in the fourth quarter by reasonable standards, the Street may nevertheless be disappointed that it wasn't once again one of the best of the best.

Core Results OK, but Some Definite Challenges  
PNC did OK in terms of revenue, announcing that revenue fell 5% from last year and 1% from the September quarter; a result that was in line with the expectations. Within this, reported net interest income (NII) rose 1%, while core NII climbed 3% after some accounting adjustments. Although PNC's net interest margin erosion of three basis points (BPS) is actually good compared to what was expected going into this cycle, it doesn't look as good relative to what we've seen from the likes of Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) or Citigroup (NYSE:C). Still, in absolute terms, PNC runs a fundamentally attractively profitable business.

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