|
Morgan Chase profit falls
|
 |
January 17, 2001: 10:25 a.m. ET
FleetBoston posts 6% gain for 4Q, but Bank One turns in a $512M loss
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A tough market environment hurt J.P. Morgan Chase's fourth quarter as the company reported profits below Wall Street forecasts Wednesday. FleetBoston, meanwhile, posted a 6 percent earnings gain and Bank One turned in a $512 million loss, missing estimates by $1 a share.
J.P. Morgan Chase reported operating income of $763 million, or 37 cents a share, excluding one-time items, compared with First Call forecasts of 45 cents a share. The company earned $2.2 billion, or a $1.09 a share, a year earlier, also excluding special items.
Total operating revenue was $7.71 billion, up 10 percent from the year-ago period.
 "While results were depressed by a challenging market environment and significant investment in our wholesale franchise, the pieces of our platform are now in place," CEO William B. Harrison Jr. said. "The integration is on track, and with reasonable cooperative financial markets we should see a meaningful rebound in profitability this year."
Harrison said the company is looking for annual revenue growth of 10 to 12 percent, with annual per share growth of 15 percent.
In December the company warned that lower trading revenue and increased expenses would cause fourth-quarter profits to fall short of Wall Street forecasts.
Last year's results were restated to reflect the $33 billion merger between J.P. Morgan and Chase Manhattan.
Shares of J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM: Research, Estimates) fell 25 cents to $52.96 in early trading.
Bank One misses by a mile
Bank One Corp. missed Wall Street expectations by nearly $1, posting a fourth-quarter loss of $512 million.
Hurt by loan losses, charges and reserves to protect bad loans, Bank One recorded a loss of 44 cents per share, compared with earnings of 36 cents per share in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by First Call expected a profit of 45 cents per share.
"These short-term results are absolutely unacceptable to our shareholders – and to Bank One management," Chairman and CEO James Dimon said.
But shares of Bank One (ONE: Research, Estimates) rose 69 cents to $39 in early trading.
Bank One is rebuilding its image on Wall Street after internal problems at its large First USA credit card arm and higher U.S. interest rates squeezed its profit growth.
First USA lost droves of customers after it eliminated a grace period on late fees, a policy it later reversed, and a string of rate increases by the Federal Reserve made it more expensive for the bank to borrow and also put pressure on large corporate borrowers' ability to meet debt payments.
Bank One also said it has cut its work force by 5,800, or 7 percent, over the past year.
For 2001, citing an earnings per share estimate range of between $2.70 and $3.00, Dimon said he "was comfortable at the lower end of the range" during a quarterly conference call.
FleetBoston meets estimates
FleetBoston Financial Corp. said fourth-quarter profits rose 6 percent, meeting First Call estimates of 84 cents per share.
Fleet (FBF: Research, Estimates) recorded a profit of $774 million, up from $726 million, or 76 cents per share for the same period a year ago.
The Boston-based company met expectations despite lower revenue from assisting with mergers and acquisitions.
Shares of Fleet fell 50 cents to $41.38 in early trading.
-- from staff and wire reports 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
