Capital One Financial Corp.’s net income rose 60% in the first quarter as the credit card lender’s charge-offs fell and it set aside less funding for future loan losses.
The McLean, Va.-based company said April 21 that net income was $1.02 billion, or $2.21 per diluted share, up from $636 million, or $1.40 per diluted share, and beating Thomson Reuters estimates of $1.55 per share.
Total revenue for the quarter fell 4.9% from a year earlier, to $4.08 billion from $4.29 billion, though it was up 3% from the fourth quarter as both net interest and noninterest income ticked up.
The company's total net charge-off rate fell to 3.66% from 6.01% in the year-earlier quarter. The net charge-off rate for its domestic credit card loans was 6.2%, down from 10.48% a year earlier. Purchase volume on its domestic cards grew 14%, to $25.02 billion.
“We are gaining momentum across our business, and the period of shrinking loans through the Great Recession came to an end in the first quarter,” Richard Fairbank, Capital One's chairman and chief executive, said in a press release.
