Bank of America beats Wall Street expectations, CEO expects a ”mild recession”

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) reported the latest financial results for Q1 on Wednesday, beating analyst expectations for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS).

Company overview

• Founded: 1998 (via the merger of BankAmerica & NationsBank)
• Headquarters: Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
• Number of branches: 3,900 retail financial centers
• Number of employees: 217,000 (2022)
• Industry: Financial services
• Key people: Brian Moynihan (Chairman and CEO), Anne Finucane (Co-Vice Chairman), Bruce Thompson (Co-Vice Chairman)

The results

Bank of America reported revenue of $26.391 billion for the first quarter (up by 13% year-over-year) vs. $25.161 billion estimate.

EPS reported at $0.94 per share (up by 18% from the same period last year) vs. $0.807 per share expected.

CEO commentary

”Every business segment performed well as we grew client relationships and accounts organically and at a strong pace. Led by 13% year-over-year revenue growth, we delivered our seventh straight quarter of operating leverage. We further strengthened our balance sheet and maintained strong liquidity. We delivered earnings of $0.94 per share, up 18% over Q1-22, in an economy with modestly slower GDP growth. Our results demonstrate how our company’s decade-long commitment to responsible growth helped to provide stability in changing economic environments,” CEO of Bank of America, Brian Moynihan said in a statement.

Moynihan also touched on the state of the US economy: ”Everything points to a relatively mild recession given the amount of stimulus that was paid to people and the money they have left over.”

”At the end of the day, we don’t see the activity on the consumer side slowing at a pace that would indicate that, but we would see commercial customers are being more careful.”

”The fact that unemployment is still 3.5% [indicates] full employment-plus. And then the wage growth is slowing and tipping over.”

”So the signs of inflation are tipping down and it’s still there but that translates into relatively good activity so we see a slight recession and we’ll see what happens,” he concluded.

The latest results had little impact on the share price on Tuesday. The stock was up by +0.63% at $30.54 a share.

Stock performance

• 1 month: +6.89%
• 3 months: -11.47%
• Year-to-date: -7.73%
• 1 year: -22.77%

Bank of America Corporation price targets

• Barclays: $39
• JP Morgan: $34
• Morgan Stanley: $31
• Wells Fargo: $45
• Goldman Sachs: $35
• RBC Capital: $34
• Oppenheimer: $44
• Odeon Capital: $35.20

Bank of America Corporation is the 38^th largest company in the world with a market cap of $244.45 billion, according to CompaniesMarketCap.

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Sources: Bank of America Corporation, TradingView, MarketWatch, MetaTrader 5, Benzinga, CompaniesMarketCap, Wikipedia