Bank of America posts higher first-quarter profit

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Bank of America Corp.'s first-quarter earnings rose sharply from a year ago as the nation's No. 3 bank benefited from its acquisition of FleetBoston as well as strong commercial loan growth and deposit growth.

Also reporting strong earnings growth were Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp.

Bank of America said Monday that its net income rose to $4.70 billion, or $1.14 per share, for the January-March period from $2.68 billion, or 91 cents per share, a year earlier. Last year's results did not include the impact of Bank of America's merger with FleetBoston Financial Corp., which was completed on April 1, 2004.

Bank of America is the largest Clark County institution with nearly 50 local branches and about $6 billion in deposits, based on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s most recent market share data.

This year's first-quarter results include merger and restructuring costs of 2 cents per share. Revenue on a fully taxable-equivalent basis grew to $14.22 billion, up sharply from $9.70 billion the previous year.

The earnings per share easily surpassed the 97 cents profit expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Bank of America shares rose 45 cents to close at $44.73 in Monday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Ken Lewis, chairman and chief executive of the Charlotte-based bank, said Bank of America "saw the strongest commercial loan growth in many quarters across our company, and deposit growth continues to be robust."

Wells Fargo this morning announced first-quarter net income of $1.86 billion, or $1.08 a share, up 5 percent from the $1.77 billion, or $1.03 a share, reported for the same 2004 quarter.

Wells Fargo is the second largest Clark County lender with more than 65 local branches and nearly $5 billion in deposits, FDIC statistics said.

Revenue for the quarter reached $8.09 billion, up 13 percent from the $7.15 billion a year ago. Loans reached $287.3 billion, up from $256.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.

"This was another outstanding, record-breaking quarter with double-digit growth in loans, double-digit growth in revenue, the single most important measure of Wells Fargo's long-term success, continued strengthening of our already strong balance sheet and solid profit performance throughout all our major business groups," Wells Fargo Chief Executive Dick Kovacevich said in a statement.

Also, U.S. Bank this morning said first-quarter net income was $1.07 billion, or 57 cents a share, up from $1.06 billion, or 56 cents a share, for the year-ago quarter.

U.S. Bank, fifth largest in Clark County, has more than 30 Clark County branches and more than $1 billion in deposits, FDIC statistics said.

Revenue for the quarter was $3.13 billion, up from $3.1 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Loans of $127.7 billion for the quarter were up from $118.8 billion a year ago.