Wells Fargo on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings and revenue results that topped Wall Street’s expectations, as the bank continued to release reserves that it had set aside as cushion against pandemic-induced loan loss risks.
The financial behemoth’s earnings for the quarter came in at $1.38, beating the 97 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. The quarter marked a sharp rebound from the loss it incurred in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue rose +10% year-over-year to $20.27 billion, vs. $17.77 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
Wells Fargo released $1.6 billion of its credit loss reserves as consumers perform better than the bank expected amid the pandemic-induced recession.
The bank’s net interest margin was 2.02% for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectation of 2.05% (according to FactSet).