Bank Of America’s Financial Results Top Wall Street Estimates

Bank of America (BAC) has reported third-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street estimates across the board.

The second largest bank in the U.S. announced earnings per share (EPS) of $0.81 U.S., which topped the consensus forecast of $0.77 U.S.

Revenue in the July through September period totaled $25.49 billion U.S. compared to $25.30 billion U.S. that had been expected on Wall Street.

The lender attributed the strong results largely to a better-than-expected trading performance. That helped to offset a drop in its income from customer interest payments.

Bank of America has been paying customers high interest rates on deposits and savings to prevent them from moving their money to high-yielding alternatives such as money market funds.

The lender said that its net interest income, which is the difference between what it earns on loans and pays on deposits, declined 3% to $14 billion U.S. in the year’s third quarter.

At the same time, Bank of America's provisions set aside to cover potentially bad loans rose to $1.5 billion U.S. in the quarter from $1.2 billion U.S. a year earlier.

However, the bank said that it is benefitting from a resumption of deals on Wall Street. A revival in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has boosted advisory fees.

Bank of America's investment banking fees increased 18% to $1.40 billion U.S. in Q3 from a year earlier.

The stock of Bank of America has risen 24% so far this year to trade at $41.91 U.S. per share.