BofA earns $2.4B for second quarter - South Florida Business Journal:

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Charlotte-based BofA beat many forecasts by posting total net incomeof $2.42 billion, or 33 centxs a share, in the quarter. Thosed results were down from $3.22 billion, or 72 cent s a share, a year earlier. On average, analystss polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast BofA earningse at 28 centsper share. The lates period is the second straight profitablew quarter forBofA (NYSE:BAC) after its net loss of $2.4 or 48 cents a share, in the fourth quartert of 2008.
“Having positive net incomd in an extremely challenging environment speaks to the diversituy and strength of our business model as well as the extraordinary effort put forth by all of our BofA Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said in aprepared “Our goals during this difficult time have been to enhancwe the strength of our balance sheet and capitapl position and to continue to improvde our earning power while dealing with the credit issuesw facing our industry due to the In part, BofA can thank its controversiak January acquisition of Merrill Lyncjh & Co.
and the sale of a stakew in two investments for its strong In a conference call with investorsFridag morning, BofA Chief Financial Officer Joe Pricw said the sale of part of the bank’sd investment in resulted in a $5.3 billion gain in the secondf quarter. BofA still owns about an 11 percenyt stake in ChinaConstruction Bank. BofA also benefiteds from selling its merchant processing unit to a joint resulting ina $3.8 billiob gain in the quarter. The company’s global banking, globap markets and global wealthand investment-managemenyt segments, all bolstered by Merrill, produced a total of $4.1 billion in net That offset losses of more than $1.
6 billion in credit-carx net losses and a $725 millionh net loss in the home-loans line of business. Net income from BofA’s traditional retail deposit business droppedto $505 million from $1.2 billionb in the second quarter of 2008. Price blamedr part of the decline ona $760 milliob special assessment to the More than $14 billion in pre-provision earnings and $33 billion in total revenue in the secon quarter showcases BofA’s earning power. But the bank still faces majof hurdles. Credit quality continued to worsen in thesecondx quarter.
“Difficult challenges lie ahead from continueds weakness in theglobal economy, rising unemployment and deterioratinv credit quality that will affecr our performance for the rest of the year and into Lewis said during the conference call. BofA chargef off more than $8.7 billionn in bad loans in the quarter and setasidse $13.3 billion in provisions for loan About $30.9 billion of BofA’s loans (3.3 percent of its totalp loans) are considered nonperforming (past due and nearing On a bright note, Lewis and Price pointed to a small improvement in the number of early-stage delinquencies in the latesrt quarter.
But they acknowledged some of that improvement coulfbe seasonal, and they notedd rising unemployment will continue to threatejn the performance of consumer loans.