Wells Fargo shares tumble after net interest income falls short of estimates

Wells Fargo on Friday reported a 9% decline in net interest income, even though its second-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded Wall Street expectations.

Here’s what the bank did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $1.33 versus $1.29 cents expected
• Revenue: $20.69 billion versus $20.29 billion expected

The San Francisco-based lender recorded $11.92 billion in net interest income, a key measure of what a bank makes on lending, marking a 9% year-over-year decline. That was below the $12.12 billion expected by analysts, according to FactSet. The bank said the drop was due to the impact of higher interest rates on funding costs.

Shares of Wells Fargo fell more than 5% in premarket trading.

“We continued to see growth in our fee-based revenue offsetting an expected decline in net interest income,” CEO Charlie Scharf said in a statement. “The investments we have been making allowed us to take advantage of the market activity in the quarter with strong performance in investment advisory, trading, and investment banking fees.”

Wells Fargo saw net income dip to $4.91 billion in the second quarter, from $4.94 billion during the same quarter a year ago. The bank set aside $1.24 billion as provision for credit losses, which included a modest decrease in the allowance for those losses. Revenue rose to $20.69 billion in the quarter.

The bank repurchased more than $12 billion of common stock during the first half of 2024 and it expects to increase the third-quarter dividend by 14%.

The stock is up more than 22% this year, outperforming the S&P 500.