| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 In the first quarter after its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) made more than it did in all of 2008. The Charlotte, N.C., bank reported first-quarter results of $4.25 billion, or 44 cents per share, blowing away analyst estimates of a loss of 3 cents a share and nearly double the 23 cents a share reported in the first quarter of 2008. The results will undoubtedly be trumpeted by CEO Ken Lewis and the bank's board of directors this week, as they seek to defend themselves against a shareholder revolt at BofA's annual meeting on April 29. Two proxy advisory firms are supporting a proposal that would split the role of chairman and CEO, while Finger Interests Number One Ltd. part of an effort (see video here) to have Lewis and two other board members sacked, charging that Lewis' focus on size and market share has distracted him from running the business and from retaining top Merrill Lynch's talent. BofA also incorporated some of the creative accounting found in Citigroup Inc.'s (NYSE:C) results. Bank of America booked a $2.2 billion gain (more than half its total profit) in the first quarter based on the declining value of debt issued by Merrill Lynch unit. With the price of that debt tumbling, BofA reported the amount of that decline as a gain, assuming that it could buy back the debt at a cheaper price, although it has yet to do so. Overall BofA said that Merrill contributed $3.7 billion to the bank's net income. Analysts estimates have been way off not only for BofA, but also for Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE:GS), Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), which appears to be muting the impact of the surprising level of profitability at banks. In premarket trading, shares of BofA, Citi and the next bank up to bat, Wells Fargo, are all down 5% or more. - George White See BofA results See Corporate Dealmaker post on Merrill integration See BofA earnings preview See Deal Video interview with Finger Investments See Dealscape post on Citi's results
 Deal Video
    Community
 Elsewhere on The Deal.comDealwatch
The Deal MagazineCorporate Dealmaker
The Deal VideoCategories
Blog roll
Archives
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
©Copyright 2009, The Deal, LLC. All rights reserved. Please send all technical questions, comments or concerns to the Webmaster.
