Friday, January 22, 2010

Wells Fargo's surprise profit boosts optimism...

Jan 20, 5:28 PM EST
Wells Fargo's surprise profit boosts optimism that lending could rebound in 2010
By STEVENSON JACOBS AP Business Writer


NEW YORK (AP) -- Wells Fargo says the economy is getting better - it sees signs of recovery in its loan business.
But the big bank may be more of an exception than a leading indicator.
Breaking from the cautious, even downbeat forecasts of rivals like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo on Wednesday used words like "favorable" and "confidence" about its future amid tentative signs that its loan defaults are close to a peak or already have peaked. The company believes the recession-weary consumer could be making a comeback.
The company is way ahead of other banks, although the CEO Bank of America, which lost more than $5 billion last quarter, expressed mild optimism that sagging consumer sentiment may be turning around.
Many banking analysts aren't so sure. The reason: Ongoing problems including the deteriorating commercial real estate market and rising credit card defaults could still trip up a recovery. And while Wells' profit report was good news, the bank is ahead of its competitors by having already taken losses on many of its bad loans.
So while Mike Loughlin, Wells Fargo & Co.'s chief credit and risk officer, said a better economic outlook and an improved credit forecast "increase our confidence that our credit cycle is turning," that assessment might be a little premature - if not for Wells Fargo, then for the banking industry as a whole.
Bert Ely, a banking analyst in Alexandria, Va., called Well's performance a "good surprise" but said several potential pitfalls could upend the bank's bold statements about a potential recovery. Specifically, yet-to-be-realized losses on commercial real estate, prime mortgages and credit cards could weigh on all bank earnings well into 2010.
"We still have a lot of problems on the horizon," Ely said. "We're certainly past the abyss, but some banks went deeper into it than others and face a steeper climb out."
Wells Fargo said it earned $394 million, or 8 cents per share, during the fourth quarter. That surprised analysts polled by Thomson Reuters who were expecting a loss of 1 cent per share.
Adam Barkstrom, a managing director at Sterne Agee, shared the skepticism over Well's forecast of an economic recovery, saying: "I think it's still too early to make that prediction."
He said the bank is still highly exposed to risky mortgage markets like Florida and California. It has also restructured many troubled mortgages, which could mean the bank is "just kicking the can down the road" if those borrowers still can't pay their bills.
Moreover, Wells has aggressively written down bad loans made before the downturn while at the same time tightening lending standards, boosting the quality of its credit portfolio compared to its competitors, said Jamie Peters, senior equity analyst at Morningstar. That means other banks that haven't acted as aggressively could still be facing credit problems.
Other analysts aren't so pessimistic.
Gerard Cassidy, banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said Wells' earnings report could signal that a credit turnaround is in the offing. He said losses from failed loans historically peak six months after the end of a recession, which means lending could pick up again in the second quarter of this year.
Given Well's surprise profit, "it seems to us that there's ample evidence that banks' credit problems will be peaking shortly," he said. "I think this is very real. I think we're going to be very pleasantly surprised in 2010."
Bank of America, meanwhile, said it lost $5.2 billion after payment of preferred dividends, an amount that reflects the costs of repaying government bailout funds as well as continuing losses from loans. The bank's Merrill Lynch investment banking operations helped offset the lending losses. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup also reported that their investment banking businesses helped to mitigate the impact of their troubled loans.
Bank of America's loss, which translated to 60 cents per share, was larger than the 52 cents analysts expected.
All the four consumer big banks that have reported fourth-quarter earnings made hefty additions to the money they set aside to cover bad loans. Wells Fargo added $5.91 billion during the fourth quarter, while Bank of America set aside $10.1 billion.
Citigroup said Tuesday it had boosted its reserves by $8.18 billion, and on Friday, JPMorgan Chase said it had added $7.28 billion to its reserves.
Amid the mixed earnings picture, JPMorgan and Citi issued more cautious statements about the future.
At Bank of America, CEO Brian Moynihan said the financial crisis "has taken its toll" on the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank and that economic conditions remain fragile. However, he still sounded a positive note, saying during a conference call, "We believe the economy is stabilizing. Markets are opening, and customer sentiment is improving."
That's a stark contrast from the statements on banking made only a year ago, said Peters of Morningstar.
"Wells was more optimistic than any of the rest. Bank of America was more optimistic than Citi or JPMorgan, which (were) the most cautious," Peters said. "Every time you had a new conference call, it was more optimistic than the last."
Like Wells Fargo, Band of America's prospects going forward are uncertain, said Bart Narter, a senior vice president at consulting firm Celent. While the acquisition of Merrill Lynch is starting to pay off, giving Bank of America an income boost from investment banking, the retail banking part of the business still faces problems.
Chief among them is dwindling profits from retail deposits, a trend that's expected to grow after legislation takes effect this summer limiting bank fees like overdraft charges.
"That's going to hurt everyone, but it hurts Bank of America more because they're already seeing a downward trend," Narter said.
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