Wells Fargo expected to lose 19 cents a share

Posted Jan 12th 2008 5:57PM by Peter Cohan
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Wells Fargo (WFC)

For more earnings forecasts, see Peter Cohan's Earnings expectations for 10 banks tell a mixed story.

Thomson Financial expects Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) to lose $0.19 when it announces its fourth-quarter results on January 16th. That's bad compared to the same period in 2006, when it earned $0.64.

Wells Fargo is a San Francisco-based bank which operates in three business segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking and Wells Fargo Financial. In the last year, its revenues were $34.2 billion and its net income totaled $9 billion. Its stock has lost 21.3% of its value in the last year, and it now trades at a P/E of 10.6.

It has a mixed record when it comes to beating estimates. In the second quarter of 2007, it met the estimate exactly, and in the third quarter it missed by 1.5%. My hunch is that it will miss expectations.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Wells Fargo securities.

Tags: bank stocks, banks, BankStocks, earnings, financials, forecasts, Wells Fargo, WellsFargo, WFC