KeyCorp's fourth-quarter loss narrowed despite higher loan-loss provisions as the regional bank's posted its seventh-straight quarter of red ink. But revenue was up and the results exceeded analysts' expectations.
Shares rose 4.3% premarket to $7.26.
The Ohio-based regional bank has been cutting costs and reducing its exposure to higher risk loans, including commercial real-estate in recent months. Though it managed to skirt the subprime-mortgage crisis, it wasn't as skillful at side-stepping the subsequent commercial real-estate downturn. KeyCorp in October was among banks that saw slower growth of bad loans.
The company reported a loss of $224 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with a prior-year loss of $524 million, or $1.13 a share. Excluding write-downs and other impacts, the loss narrowed to 39 cents a share from 52 cents a share. Revenue increased 11% to $1.12 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast a loss of 40 cents a share on revenue of $1.06 billion.
KeyCorp's loan-loss provisions increased 56% to $2.5 billion from a year earlier, but was flat with the previous quarter. On a continuing operations basis, net charge-offs, or loans the lender doesn't expect to collect, rose to 4.64% from 1.67% a year earlier and 3.59% the previous quarter. Nonperforming loans grew to 3.72% from 1.68% and 3.68%.