Wells Fargo tops expectations for Q4

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) reported its latest financial results for the previous quarter before the opening bell on Friday. The company beat both revenue and earnings per share expectations.

Total revenue at $20.856 billion in Q4 of 2021 vs. $18.791 billion expected. Earnings per share at $1.38 per share vs. $1.11 a share expected.

Company CEO, Charlie Scharf commented on the results – ”In 2021, we improved our financial returns, including reducing our expenses and returning a significant amount of excess capital to our shareholders by increasing our dividend and repurchasing $14.5 billion of common stock. We also had strong deposit growth and while loan demand was weak early in the year, loans grew 5% in the second half with growth in both our consumer and commercial portfolios. As the economy continued to recover we saw increased consumer spending, higher investment banking fees, higher asset-based fees in our Wealth and Investment Management business, and strong equity gains in our affiliated venture capital and private equity businesses. We continued to manage credit well and the strong economic environment helped reduce charge-offs to historical lows and our results benefitted from reductions in our allowance for credit losses.”

”The changes we’ve made to the company and continued strong economic growth prospects make us feel good about how we are positioned entering 2022. But we also remain cognizant that we still have a multiyear effort to satisfy our regulatory requirements – with setbacks likely to continue along the way – and we continue our work to put exposures related to our historical practices behind us,” Scharf added.

Wells Fargo & Co. chart (1Y)

Shares of Wells Fargo were trading higher on Friday, up by around 2% after the earnings beat. The stock is up by 78% in the past year at $57.18 per share.

Wells Fargo is the 49^th largest company in the world and with a total market cap of $228.14 billion.

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Sources: Wells Fargo & Co., TradingView, CompaniesMarketCap