NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a nearly seven-fold increase in third-quarter results as strong results at its investment bank offset rising losses on credit cards and other consumer loans.
The second largest U.S. bank reported net income for common shareholders of $3.6 billion, or 82 cents a share. That compares with $527 million, or 9 cents, in the year ago quarter.
Analysts on average forecast earnings of 52 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/.
JPMorgan shares were up 2.8 percent in premarket trading.
The following is reaction from industry analysts and investors:
ANTON SCHUTZ, PRESIDENT, MENDON CAPITAL, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK:
“It looks like a lot of the beat was in fixed income. I still see JPMorgan as being the first big bank to restore dividends. Their capital ratios look pretty healthy. If their numbers keep getting stronger, which I think they will, they’ll be overcapitalized relatively soon. I could see them restoring dividends this quarter, or next quarter.”
KEITH BOWMAN, ANALYST AT HARGREAVE, LONDON
“It doesn’t come as a surprise that they’ve posted positive results -- you’d have to say the sort of trading environment we’ve had over the last few months would certainly appear to have suited someone like JPMorgan.”
DAVID MORRISON, MARKET STRATEGIST AT GFT MARKETS, LONON
“We have got JPMorgan today, we have got Goldman Sachs tomorrow. They are in a golden situation at the moment where you have got a very steep yield curve, although there isn’t much volatility in the market. There has been a lessening of competition within the investment banking arena. Activity is basically picking up. There has been expectation that both banks should do very well. Certainly JPMorgan results today have shown that expectation was completely warranted.”
GEOFF WILKINSON, HEAD OF INVESTMENT RESEARC AT MINT, LONDON
“The results are very good for the sector. It is very hard to sell the market at all if we’re seeing the main U.S. banking indices also very near their highs. It’s an absolutely definitive catalyst for a positive market and has a very positive impact on sentiment. The one point is that if the broad U.S. banking indices are supported by this then everything else will be supported as well.”
MICHAEL HOLLAND, PRESIDENT OF HOLLAND & CO IN NEW YORK
“This is off-the-charts performance. This is stellar.”
“Their fortress balance sheet continues to be the envy of the rest of the banking industry. If things don’t get dramatically better in the economy, once again this kind of performance continues to separate JPMorgan from several of its competitors because of the ability to make a fortress balance sheet even better.”
“One would be surprised that Jamie Dimon and his management team was able to surprise so positively, since they have surprised so positively in the past. In this environment, this is a championship performance.”
“I don’t think you can infer from this that the financial sector is home free at this point. To the contrary, it shows one thing -- JPMorgan has performed brilliantly.”
PETER BOOCKVAR, EQUITY STRATEGIST AT MILLER TABAK & CO IN NEW YORK
“Obviously the results look much better than expected, on both the top line and the bottom line. It’s an old leader in the industry, but it certainly delivered.”
Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, Tricia Wright, Dominic Lau, Harpreet Bhal and Steve Eder
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.