UBS Reports Stronger-Than-Expected Second-Quarter Earnings

Posted Jul 27th 2010 10:00AM by Mark Fightmaster
Filed under: Earnings Reports

Swiss bank UBS (UBS) reported Tuesday it earned 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.9 billion) -- far better than the loss of 1.4 billion francs in the same quarter last year. Results also easily beat the consensus estimate. Furthermore, the company announced that it should have all the tax matters with the U.S. government settled by October.

The bank enjoyed strong performance from its investment banking sector, which saw pretax profit increase 10%. "This was a good result in volatile market conditions, and demonstrates the progress we are making," CEO Oswald Gruebel said in a statement. "I remain confident in our future and I firmly believe that we have the right strategy in place."

However, not all of the news was great. UBS warned that doubts about the economic recovery could lead to tepid client activity later this year.

Technically, UBS appears to be making yet another run at the $20 region (chart available here). The stock has approached this region in the past and has turned back; but this earnings news could be enough to push the stock significantly higher. Should this move take place, we could see the round-number $20 level act as support if needed. Considering this level acted as resistance in the past, any support could be rather strong. In addition, UBS's 20-month moving average is in position to act as support if needed.

Tags: banking, banks, finance, financial crisis, inthenews, swiss bank, ubs, ubs earnings