JPMorganreported quarterly earnings that met Wall Street expectations in profit but missed on revenue, sending shares lower in pre-market trading.
CNBC.com
JP Morgan Chase
The company delivered fourth-quarter earnings excluding items of 90 cents per share, a decrease from $1.12 per share in the year-earlier period.
Full-year net income was $19 billion, downfrom $26.72 billion a year ago and well below analyst expectations of $23 billion. Quarterly net income was $3.72billion, down from $4.83 billion a year earlier.
In its earnings announcement, the firm focused on the amount of credit it has been driving to the economy, after three years of weak lending following the financial crisis.
The firm provided $17 billion in credit to small businesses, a gain of 52 percent.
Credit card sales volume rose 10 percent as delinquencies declined, with 2.2 million new accounts opening in the fourth quarter. However, card service revenue fell
Retail banking earnings jumped 16 percent, but that was due largely to falling credit-loss provisions, which offset lower revenue elsewhere.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon called the results "modestly disappointing."
All of the firm's accomplishments and our success in the future rest on a foundation of capital strength and careful stewardship of the firm through this challenging economy and a new, complex regulatory environment," Dimon said in a statement. "We are working hard to help our clients thrive, economies grow and communities prosper."
Though trading and investment banking activity showed signs of weakness, analysts said the bank's future direction looks positive.
"I think the earnings show how well JPMorgan can be managed in one of the roughest times," said Mike Holland, founder of Holland and Co. They were lagging in revenues but they were able to manage through that. Investment banking was predictably lousy. Trading was predictably lousy. But they were able to pull off a meet-or-beat quarter."
The firm saw a $567 million or 9 cent per share reduction due to debit valuation adjustment, a non-cash accounting item that created a $1.9 billion pre-tax gain last quarter. Also significant was a $528 million or 8 cent per share reduction from increased litigation reserves, and $730 million or 11 cent per share gain from a cut in loan loss reserves.
JPMorgan's results "show that there are major headwinds against the banking industry and it requires a strong management team to battle the headwinds," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm Libertyview Capital Management in New York.
"The bigger negatives tend to be the housing and mortgage situation and investors questioning, 'Have we really hit bottom in this sector or is this just a black hole?'"
Volatility in stock and bond markets caused by Europe's debt crisis also hurt JPMorgan's investment banking business. Fees declined 39 percent to $1.1 billion. Debt underwriting fell 40 percent, and stock underwriting fell 65 percent.
—Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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