Discover Financial Beats on Top and Bottom Lines

Discover Financial Services DFS released its fiscal first quarter earnings results after the closing bell on Wednesday. The company reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $624 million or $1.18 per share, versus $459 million or $0.84 per share, in the year ago period. This handily beat Wall Street analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $0.94. Revenues for the quarter, excluding interest expense, were $1.843 billion compared to $1.733 billion in last year's corresponding quarter. This also came in ahead of the Street which had consensus revenue estimates of $1.82 billion into the print. "Continued improvements in credit performance, solid organic growth in each of our lending products and strong volume growth across our networks were key drivers of this quarter's earnings," said David Nelms, chairman and chief executive officer. In Wednesday's after hours trading session, DFS shares have lost 1% to $31.31 after initially trading sharply higher in the wake of the results.