Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) joined other big US banks in reporting impressive results in the first quarter, which surpassed the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The bank, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said its earnings per share came to US$0.62 per share in the first quarter on US$6.92bn in net income, which beat the expectations of analysts who had predicted that the bank would earn US$59 per share or US$6.3bn. Revenue jumped 3.7% from the year-ago period to US$23bn, up from US$22bn.
Opening more branches
A bright spot for the bank was its performance from trading stock as its equity revenues soared 38% to US$1.52bn from the same period a year ago. Its revenue from overall trading rose slightly to US$4.05bn, up from US$4.03bn in the year-ago quarter.
The bank’s consumer banking group also drove up its profits, with revenues from the division rising 9% from the year-ago period to US$9bn, thanks to robust growth in deposits and loans.
The bank said it is looking to widen its reach and bolster the consumer side of its business even further by opening branches in Cleveland, Columbus, Denver, Lexington, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City.
A weak spot was its fixed-income revenue, which slumped 13% to US$2.54bn.
Last week, JPMorgan & Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) also reported robust quarterly results on the back of rising interest rates.
In pre-market trade, Bank of America shares inched up by 0.87% to US$30.06.