Without these two one-time items, Q3 EPS would still have missed the estimate by 7 cents.
WFC shares were slightly down during pre-market trading hours
on Tuesday. The stock has gained a modest 4% from the beginning of this year.
CFO John Shrewsberry said, “Our net charge-off rate remained
near historic lows, and we had strong capital returns, including increasing our
quarterly common stock dividend by 19% and reducing our common shares
outstanding by 9% compared with a year ago, while maintaining a strong capital
position.”
Last month, Wells Fargo had announced the appointment of Charles W. Scharf as the new Chief Executive Officer and President, effective October 21. Scharf was previously Chairman and CEO at Bank of New York Mellon.
Meanwhile, rival Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported a 6% increase in earnings for the third quarter of 2019 helped by the lower effective tax rate and higher revenues despite higher expenses and cost of credit. The results exceeded analysts’ expectations.