AP
BofA 2Q profit shrinks, beats Wall Street
Monday July 21, 5:31 pm ET
By Ieva M. Augstums, AP Business Writer
Bank of America profit falls 41 percent in 2nd qtr, cites weak credit quality; beats estimates


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Bank of America Corp. has become the latest in a string of big banks whose second-quarter earnings, while hurting from the impact of the credit crisis, still managed to beat Wall Street expectations.

The nation's second-largest bank by assets said Monday its profit fell 41 percent as losses in its struggling mortgage operations were offset by business in other parts of the company. But it easily beat Wall Street estimates, and its stock rose $1.07, or 3.9 percent, to close at $28.56.

Four of the nation's five biggest banks have now reported better-than-estimated results. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. reported smaller-than-expected profit declines, while Citigroup Inc. had a milder-than-expected $2.5 billion loss.

Wachovia Corp., the nation's fourth-largest bank, is expected to report earnings Tuesday. The Charlotte-based bank has said it may post a $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion loss for the quarter.

"Most of our businesses are performing well even with the current state of the economy and the problems with housing," Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis said during a conference call with analysts. "However, as I said, we are not in denial. Credit losses are still going up, but given what we see today, they are manageable."

Bank of America, also based in Charlotte, reported net income of $3.41 billion, or 72 cents per share, on $20.32 billion in revenue, in the April-June period. That compared with net income of $5.76 billion, or $1.28 per share, on $19.63 billion in revenue a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected a profit of 53 cents per share on $18.37 billion in revenue.

Bank of America said credit quality continued to weaken during the quarter, particularly in markets that experienced the most significant home price declines.

The company more than tripled the amount it set aside for bad loans to $5.83 billion, up from $1.81 billion a year ago, largely for consumer and commercial portfolios directly tied to the housing market, including home equity, residential mortgages and homebuilding. The figure surged to $6.01 billion in the first quarter.

During the second quarter, troubled loans in residential mortgage rose to $3.27 billion, nearly four times the amount from a year ago. Home equity loans also continued to rise to $1.85 billion in troubled loans from $496 million a year ago.

Net charge-offs, loans it doesn't think are collectable, jumped to $3.62 billion, up from $1.5 billion a year ago, reflecting housing market deterioration and slowing economic conditions, the company said.

While credit quality in Bank of America's residential mortgage portfolio continues to deteriorate -- the charge-off rate more than doubled from the first quarter to the second, from 0.1 percent to 0.24 percent -- Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP analyst Jeff Harte in a wrote client note it "does not suggest that Bank of America is seeing as rapid a rate of deterioration as indicated by JPMorgan last week."

Bank of America does not break out their residential mortgage portfolio by loan type. JPMorgan said its charge-off rate for prime mortgages, which include more than $34 billion in jumbo mortgages and $2.5 billion in alt-A mortgages, was 0.91 percent for the second quarter.

Jumbo mortgages are loans that exceed the maximum set by government entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and alt-A mortgages are given to people with minor credit problems or who lack proper documentation to get a traditional prime loan.

Elsewhere in its report, Bank of America said write-downs tied to disrupted capital markets totaled $1.22 billion, down from the first quarter's $2.81 billion.

Profit in consumer and small business banking fell 66 percent to $812 million. The corporate and investment bank saw profit rise 3 percent to $1.75 billion. In wealth and investment management, profit fell 1 percent to $573 million.

Bank of America completed its $2.5 billion purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp. on July 1, a deal it now says will add to its profits this year. Second-quarter results included $212 million of merger and restructuring costs.

Countrywide, whose results weren't part of Bank of America's figures, posted a second-quarter net loss of $2.33 billion, including just under $4 billion in credit-related losses.

Bank of America said it now expects $900 million of cost savings by 2011 from integrating Countrywide, up from an original $670 million. The bank had previously said it plans to cut about 7,500 jobs as it integrates the company into its own operations. The job cuts amount to about 12.5 percent of the combined companies' mortgage, home equity and insurance businesses.

More details about Countrywide's second quarter results will be included in an upcoming quarterly regulatory filing, the bank said. Bank of America will report its third quarter results in October.

Bank of America said its results reflected its acquisition in May of Chicago-based LaSalle Bank, but it gave few details of LaSalle's impact during the quarter.

Also on Monday, Lewis reaffirmed his commitment not to cut the bank's dividend, and said he would recommend to the board that it remain unchanged at 64 cents a share.

Lewis said in a conference call with analysts that while "it's hard to be unequivocal on anything," the fact that the bank is poised to post the most profits among U.S. banks for the quarter offers reason for optimism.

Bank of America Corp.: http://www.bankofamerica.com