Synchrony Financial matches profit expectations but NII beats, purchase volume rises to a record

Synchrony Financial SYF, -6.75% reported Friday fourth-quarter profit that matched expectations while net interest income rose above forecasts, boosted by by record purchase volume and loan growth across all sales platforms. The consumer financial services company’s stock was still inactive in premarket trading. Net income rose to $803 million, or $1.48 a share, from $728 million, or $1.24 a share, in the year-ago period. The results included a per-share 14 cent post-tax benefit of 14 cents due to reserve reductions. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.48. Net interest income grew 4.7% to $3.83 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $3.74 billion, as net interest margin of 15.77% topped expectations of 15.45%. Purchase volume increased 18% to $47.1 billion and loans grew 4% to $85.1 billion. New accounts increased 20% to 7.3 million. The stock has lost 5.2% over the past three months, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF XLF, +1.31% has declined 5.4% and the S&P 500 SPX, +2.43% has dropped 5.9%.