New York – Wells Fargo & Co., the nation’s fifth-largest bank, on Tuesday reported record profits in the second quarter, but its earnings per share were a penny shy of Wall Street’s expectations.
Wells Fargo’s miss marked the second time in as many days that a major bank came in with earnings below expectations because of the current difficult interest-rate environment.
On Monday, the nation’s largest financial institution, Citigroup Inc., said its earnings rose 4 percent in the second quarter on strong corporate and investment banking, but the overall results were a penny a share short of analysts’ projections because of lackluster consumer-banking profit.
Bank profits have been squeezed in recent quarters because of the narrow spread between short-term and long- term interest rates.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said net income totaled $2.09 billion, or $1.23 a share, in the April-June period, up 9 percent from $1.9 billion, or $1.12 a share, a year earlier. Revenue was a record $8.79 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had projected earnings of $1.24 a share on revenue of $8.77 billion.
