Majestic Research

Investment Advisor

JPMorgan Chase Reports Big First-Quarter Profits Income rises more than 50% over 2009

By Ron Pechtimaldjian
Published: April 14, 2010

Leading many banks out of the earnings gate, JPMorgan Chase on Wednesday, April 14, announced profits of $3.3 billion for the first quarter, exceeding analysts’ expectations.

JPMorgan said its first-quarter income rose more than 50% from the same quarter last year, on revenue of $28.2 billion. Its earnings were 74 cents a share, up from 40 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast income of 64 cents a share on revenue of $26.5 billion.

JPMorgan’s investment bank led the way for the company, pulling in $2.47 billion of its first-quarter profit.

Also, loan delinquencies continued to stabilize, the bank said, which was a good sign for the overall economy.

“While the economy still faces challenges, there have been clear and broad-based improvements in underlying trends,” Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “We believe these improvements will continue and are hopeful they will gather momentum.”

After the battering that many banks took early last year, though, it’s not surprising to some analysts that JPMorgan reported big profits.

“JPMorgan is a very well-managed firm, but putting liquidity back into their balance sheet should have been fairly easy in this environment,” said Steve Blitz, senior economist at Majestic Research based in New York.