SVB Financial Group Gains Ahead Of Q4 Earnings Report

SVB Financial Group's

third-quarter results after the bell Thursday are expected to reveal earnings growth of 17 percent on a double-digit increase in its loan portfolio. Shares of the Santa Clara, Calif. banking company changed hands recently at $109.82, up nearly 5 percent. Wall Street expects fourth-quarter earnings of $1.29 a share, up from year-earlier profit of $1.10 a share. SVB missed quarterly earnings expectations in October by a slim margin for the first time in more than three years, in part because of higher non-interest expense and loan-loss provisions. SVB at the time increased its forecast for full-year spending on professional services and compensation expense to the "low teens" up from its earlier forecast in "the low double digits." The company also forecast that net interest income for 2014 would grow "in the low twenties" while net interest margin will amount to between 2.75 percent and 2.85 percent. SVB expected that loan loss provisions as well as nonperforming loans as a percentage of its portfolio would be flat compared with a year earlier.