Wells Fargo shocks market with record profit
Wells Fargo & Co said it expects to post a record $3 billion first-quarter profit, causing its shares to soar 31.7 percent and providing a welcome jolt to the stock market and a still-troubled banking sector.
The preliminary results suggest that lenders focused on traditional banking activities may handle the recession better than analysts and investors expect, at a time the government is performing “stress tests” on 19 major banks.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is the fourth-largest U.S. bank, and the nation’s first major lender to indicate how it fared in the January-March period.
“In this terrible environment, to exceed on the upside is going to raise the bar pretty high,” said Matt McCormick, an analyst at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel in Cincinnati.
…more…
… and an explanation for the profits