Wall Street Bullish on Wells Fargo
Wall Street analysts are decidedly bullish on Wells Fargo, which is slated to report its fourth quarter results next Tuesday, January 17th. Economists in a recent Bloomberg survey forecast the bank will report earnings of 72 cents a share, excluding certain items, an 18 percent increase over the 61 cents a share the company earned in 2010’s final quarter. For the full-year, meanwhile, analysts predicted earnings per share of $2.81 on revenue of $80.61 billion, on average. Revenue for the fourth quarter, meanwhile, is expected to drop 14.2 percent to just over $20 billion.
The majority of stock analysts (83.3 percent, according to a Forbes report) currently have Wells Fargo rated as a “buy”, compared to its 10 biggest competitors, which an average of 55 percent of analysts have rated as a “buy.” Analysts have become much more optimistic about Wells Fargo stock in recent months and the number of buy rating have increased dramatically as a result.
The reasons for the optimism for Wells are numerous, including the fact that the firm’s net income has risen in three straight quarters, rising an impressive 21.4 percent, year-to-year in the most recent quarter. These profit gains, meanwhile, have come in spite of falling revenue at the bank, indicating the bank has made effective moves to cut costs and improve profitability.
