PNC Financial Services Group Inc. swung back into the black in the fourth quarter as it recorded rising revenue and booked a hefty one-time gain related to an acquisition.
Shares rose 1.2% to $59.50 in premarket action as results topped analysts' expectations.
"Customer growth and sales of products and services across the franchise were strong, giving us considerable momentum starting into 2010,"said Chairman and Chief Executive James Rohr.
In the past week, banks have reported fourth-quarter results that have bounced back from the depths of the financial crisis a year earlier. Some banks have cut the amount of money they're setting aside for bad loans, possibly signaling improved forecasts for consumers' financial health, even though bad loans at several big banks have continued to rise.
PNC, which has a big presence in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, posted a profit of $1.11 billion, or $2.17 a share, from a year-earlier loss of $246 million, or 77 cents a share. Excluding a gain related to the BlackRock Inc. (BLK) acquisition of Barclays Global Investors and various integration costs, PNC's profit would have been 90 cents a share.
Revenue more than tripled to $5.08 billion, in part on the acquisition of National City.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast earnings of 78 cents a share on $4.44 billion in revenue.
Credit-loss provisions rose to $1.05 billion from a year-earlier $990 million and $914 million in the prior quarter. Net charge-offs, or loans a bank doesn't think it can collect, jumped to 2.09% from 1.09% a year earlier and 1.59% in the prior quarter. Nonperforming assets, or loans in danger of going bad, rose to 3.99% from 1.24% and 3.5%, respectively.
