Wells Fargo好波

再次證明優質企業有能力於逆境中創好成績!

「Timing」--- 管它的，反正最大風險係買錯野，或者是過高的估值買野(不論質素).....



Wells Fargo Profit Exceeds Estimates; Shares Jump (Source: Bloomberg)

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Wells Fargo & Co., the biggest bank on the U.S. West Coast, rose the most in more than 25 years after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter profit and raising its dividend.

Wells Fargo advanced US$4.09 to US$24.56 in 10:29 a.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading, and jumped as high as $24.74 after the bank said net income dropped 23 percent to US$1.75 billion, or 53 cents a share, from US$2.28 billion, or 67 cents, a year earlier. That beat the 50-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 16 percent to a record US$11.5 billion.

Gains in credit-card fees and insurance softened the impact of bad home loans at the San Francisco-base bank, which increased the quarterly payout 10 percent. While earnings have declined for three straight quarters, Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf has kept the bank profitable even as Citigroup Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc. racked up losses and lenders Countrywide Financial Corp. and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. disappeared.


Avoiding Subprime
Wells Fargo, the second-biggest U.S. mortgage lender, has said it avoided subprime loans, which caused more than 100 companies to close, be sold or halt operations since the beginning of 2007. Bank of America Corp. became the biggest home lender this month when it completed a rescue of Countrywide by purchasing the Calabasas, California-based company.

"In Wells Fargo's case, the benefit of the credit crisis in terms of higher assets at higher spreads has so far largely offset the negative impact of higher charge-offs,'' Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said in prepared remarks on the bank's Web site. "We are one of the few banks that have the capacity to take advantage of such opportunities."

The quarterly dividend will increase to 34 cents a share from 31 cents. Competitors including Washington Mutual and Citigroup have slashed payouts as losses mount.


Berkshire Stake
Billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. boosted its stake in Wells Fargo in the first quarter by 1.4 million shares to 290.7 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Omaha, Nebraska-based firm owns 8.8 percent of Wells Fargo, making Berkshire the biggest stakeholder, according to Bloomberg data.