JPMorgan Chase (JPM) stock is higher out of the gate Wednesday after the world's largest bank kicked off fourth-quarter earnings season with a bang, beating top- and bottom-line expectations.
In the three months ending December 31, JPMorgan said its revenue increased 9.5% year over year to $43.7 billion, boosted by 17.5% growth in its Commercial & Investment Bank segment to $17.6 billion. Its earnings per share (EPS) rose 58.2% from the year-ago period to $4.81.
The results beat analysts' expectations. Wall Street was anticipating revenue of $41.7 billion and earnings of $4.11 per share, according to CNBC.
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"The Firm concluded the year with a strong fourth quarter, generating net income of $14.0 billion. Each line of business posted solid results," said JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in a statement. "In Consumer and Community Banking (CCB), we continued to acquire new customers across Consumer Banking, Business Banking, Card, and wealth management. For example, nearly 2 million net new checking accounts were opened during 2024."
JPMorgan ended the quarter with $4 trillion in assets under management and a book value per share of $116.07, representing year-over-year increases of 18% and 11%, respectively.
For fiscal 2025, JPMorgan said it expects to achieve net interest income of approximately $94 billion, an increase of about 1.5% from $92.6 billion in fiscal 2024.
"This was a very good print for the stock, especially as many investors were worried that JPM would be a funding mechanism to chase some of the lower-quality banks out there," wrote David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, in emailed commentary. "We were most impressed with the company's big revenue beat, and importantly, net interest income was quite strong."
Is JPMorgan stock a buy, sell or hold?
JPMorgan Chase has done well on the price charts over the past 12 months, up 50% on a total return basis (price change plus dividends) vs the S&P 500's 24% gain. Unsurprisingly, Wall Street is bullish on the Dow Jones stock.
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the consensus recommendation among the 23 analysts following the financial stock that it tracks is a Buy.
CFRA Research analyst Kenneth Leon is one of those with a Buy rating on the large-cap stock. ""JPM is gaining wallet share across many different core businesses," including investment banking and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Leon says. "We also see midsize companies looking to shift loans and other services to larger banks like JPMorgan."
Meanwhile, analysts' price targets have had a hard time keeping up with JPM's run higher. The average analyst price target of $254.53 represents implied upside of roughly 2% to current levels. Analysts may revise their price targets higher following the strong quarter.
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