Wells Fargo & Co. shares WFC, +1.86% rose 2% in premarket trade Friday, after the bank posted stronger-than-expected revenue for the third quarter, offsetting a profit miss. The bank posted net income of $3.528 billion, or 85 cents a share, for the quarter to end September, down from $5.122 billion, or $1.17 a share, in the year-earlier quarter, below the $1.09 FactSet consensus. Revenue rose to $19.505 billion from $18.834 billion a year ago, ahead of the $18.775 billion FactSet consensus. Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said performance was “significantly impacted” by $2 billion, or 45 cents a share, in operating losses “related to litigation, customer remediation, and regulatory matters primarily related to a variety of historical matters.” The bank is however seeing historically low delinquencies and high payment rates and said the timing of deterioration in those measures due to high inflation remains unclear. The bank set aside $784 million in provisions for loan losses, after reducing them by $1.395 billion a year ago. Net interest income rose 36%, while noninterest income fell 25%, hurt by a decline in mortgage banking income amid a decline in originations. Shares are down 12% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX, -2.37% has fallen 23%.
