UPDATE: Fifth Third Bancorp Q4 Earnings Beat Views

reported upbeat earnings for the fourth quarter. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based bank posted a quarterly profit of $385 million, or $0.43 per share, compared to $402 million, or $0.43 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue dropped to $1.54 billion from $1.61 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $1.51 billion. Mortgage banking revenue declined 51% to $61 million, while corporate banking revenue rose 27% to $120 million. Card and processing revenue climbed 7% to $76 million. Net interest income dropped $17 million y/y in the quarter, while he net interest margin shrank 25 bps y/y. Average securities and other short-term investments rose to $27.6 billion in the quarter from $23.0 billion in the year-ago quarter. Average loan and lease balances (excluding loans held-for-sale) rose 4% y/y, while average core deposits gained 8% versus the year-ago quarter. Kevin T. Kabat, Vice Chairman and CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp said, “We continued to prudently and actively manage our capital position, reducing our share count by another 4 percent in 2014. Fifth Third performed very well in 2014, and we made a number of decisions throughout the year to reduce risk and volatility of earnings, and we feel the Company is well positioned as we enter 2015.” Fifth Third Bancorp shares fell 1.20% to close at $18.08 yesterday.