Bank of America's first-quarter profits jumped 40% to $4.86 billion, up from $3.47 billion a year ago. Per-share earnings were $0.41, beating estimates and last year's $0.38 EPS.
Revenue rose 7% to $22.25 billion from last year; on an adjusted basis, sales were $22.45 billion, which also surpassed analysts' estimates.
The bank's net interest income also increased 7%, hitting nearly $11.1 billion in Q1'17; BofA had projected this figure would just be $600 million.
"We saw good client activity in our balanced portfolio of businesses: consumer spending was up, our wealth management business had strong asset management flows, investment banking fees rebounded nicely, and we continued to provide credit and capital to our corporate and institutional clients to help them drive the economy forward," said CEO Brian Moynihan in a statement.
Wealth Results
Global Wealth & Investment Management had net income of $770 million, up 4% over last year, as revenue grew 3% year over year to $4.6 billion "driven by higher asset management fees and net interest income, which more than offset lower transactional revenue," the bank says.
Long-term AUM flows hit $29.2 billion for the quarter, thanks to "strong client activity and also in part by assets in IRA brokerage accounts transitioning into managed relationships," it explains. The long-term flows were $18.9 billion in Q4'16 and -0.6 billion.
The group had a pre-tax margin of 27% vs. 26% a year ago and 23% in the prior quarter.
