Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is expected to announced their 3rd quarter earnings results before the market opens on Wednesday with a conference call scheduled at 8:30 AM ET.
Analysts are currently expecting Wells Fargo to announce revenues of $21.35 Billion and an earnings per share of 36 cents. According to First Call, the consensus range is between 4 cents per share and 50 cents per share and revenues between $20.89 billion and$22.32 billion.
Earlier this month, UBS ranked Wells Fargo with a sell rating, based on its belief that Wells Fargo will be hurt by coming credit trends and that Wells Fargo’s core business operations won’t meet expectations in 2010 and 2011. The firm added that Wells Fargo may issue new stock in the future that could dilute existing shares.
Meredith Whitney, analysts that covers the banking industry, predicted that Wells Fargo’s Q3 results would be mixed. Whitney predicted that major financial institutions would be hurt by low earning assets and increasing delinquencies.
Out of the large banks that have announced their earnings, JP Morgan, BB&T reported better than expected results and Citigroup and Bank of America have disappointed investors.
Wells Fargo’s CEO, John Stumpf, stated last month that the bank had used $2.2 billion out of the $10.4 billion it has in credits for losses from credits associated with Wachovia’s most troublesome non-performing commercial and international loans. The usage of available credits by Wells Fargo has likely increased since Stumpf made that statement in September. Stumpf has also stated that he expects Wells Fargo’s non-performing assets to increase.
