SANTA CLARA, Calif. Silicon Valley Bancshares, whose deposits fell 10% in May, to $3.6 billion, on Friday lowered its second-quarter earnings estimate by 10 cents, to 45 cents a share.
The $3.7 billion-asset parent of Silicon Valley Bank had first-quarter earnings of $33.3 million, or 65 cents a share.
Chief executive officer Kenneth P. Wilcox blamed the drop in deposits on the dot-com sectors collapse. He said 350 companies that maintained deposit or credit relationships with Silicon Valley have gone out of business since the start of the year.
I dont know if the economy as a whole is in a recession, but the entire tech sector, from Cisco on down, must be, Mr. Wilcox said. The liquidity of the companies we serve has declined dramatically.
Fridays announcement spooked investors. In heavy trading the stock was down more than 14% late in the day, to $22.20.
