Hudson City Bancorp Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings rose 9.9% although nonperforming loans, charge-offs and provisions for credit losses all rose, but deposits rose by a third from a year ago, while borrowings declined slightly.
Chief Executive Ronald E. Hermance Jr. said the company is well-positioned in 2010 for improvement in financial and housing markets and the economy overall. The New Jersey-based bank for the most part weathered the financial crisis by avoiding writing the risky loans that lead to high default rates for many of its competitors.
Hudson City posted earnings of $136.6 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with $124.3 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. Total revenue rose 27% to $334 million.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 28 cents on revenue of $340 million.
Hudson City recorded $45 million in loan-loss provisions for the fourth quarter, up from $9 million a year earlier. Net charge-offs rose to $19.8 million from $1.8 million, while nonperforming assets tripled to $627.7 million.
Hudson City's Tier 1 capital leverage ratio, a key measure of financial strength, fell to 7.6% from 8% a year ago.
Hudson City didn't participate in the governments' Troubled Asset Relief Program and was the best-performing bank in the Standard & Poor's 500 index in 2008 as bank stocks tumbled.
Hudson City shares were up 0.3% at $13.78 premarket.
