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October 15, 2014 at 06:54 AM
Bank of America (BAC) said early Tuesday that it had a third-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders of $70 million, or $0.01 per share, vs. a profit of $2.22 billion, or $0.20 per share, a year ago.
Its net income, including preferred stock dividends, declined sharply to $168 million in the period ending Sept. 30 from $2.5 billion a year earlier, mainly because of its latest mortgage settlement — which involved a pretax charge of $5.3 billion and took $0.43 per share off earnings, according to the bank.
Analysts had expected BofA to post a loss of $0.09 per share, according to Thomson Reuters. However, adjusted earnings per share (excluding an accounting gain) were $0.40, beating estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Total revenue in Q3’14, net of interest expense, was $21.43 billion, down from $21.73 billion last year. Analysts had anticipated sales of $21.36 billion in the period ending Sept. 30.
BofA said four of its five business lines, including wealth management, had higher net income in Q3’14 vs. last year’s results.
“We saw solid customer and client activity and improved profitability in most of our businesses relative to the year-ago quarter,” explained CEO Brian Moynihan, in a statement. “We remain focused on streamlining and simplifying our company and connecting customers and clients with the real economy, an approach that is paying dividends for them and for our shareholders.”
Wealth Management
Global Wealth and Investment Management, which includes the results of Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust, reported net income of $813 million, compared to $720 million in the third quarter of 2013 and $726 million in the prior quarter.
Revenue increased about 1% from the year-ago quarter and 7% from Q2’14 to nearly $4.7 billion, driven by “higher non-interest income related to improved market valuation and long-term AUM flows,” BofA says.
The group’s pre-tax margin was 27.4%, up from the year-ago margin of 25.5%, marking the seventh straight quarter over 25%.
Client balances increased 8% from the year-ago quarter to $2.46 trillion, thanks to “higher market levels and net inflows,” the bank notes; client balances as of June 30 were $2.47 trillion.
