On Wednesday, Bank of America reported higher legal costs, sinking revenue and a quarterly loss. Investors were not happy, sending BAC stock down almost 3% in morning trading.
BAC stock fell after the bank posted a $276 million loss for the first quarter. However, adjusted EPS came in at 35 cents per share, beating the 27 cents that analysts were expecting. First-quarter revenue dipped 2.7% to $22.76 billion, but that also topped the $22.33 billion that Wall Street had estimated, USA TODAY noted.
During the quarter, BAC took a pre-tax charge of $6 billion — about 40 cents per share — to cover costs associated with mortgage litigation. In a statement, CEO Brian Moynihan conceded that mortgage-related litigation costs “hurt our earnings.” BAC also indicated that it spent $1.4 billion to buy back about 87 million shares in the first quarter.
BAC said that profits at its consumer and business banking business climbed 15% compared to last year, rising to $1.66 billion. The nation’s second biggest bank noted that its payroll during the quarter had declined 9% from the same time last year and 1.5% since the fourth quarter of last year, the Wall Street Journal notes.
Bank of America stock has gained more than 30% over the past 12 months.
More Bank Stock News:
