First Citizens BancShares Stock Gains After Upbeat Q4 Profit, Retail’s Jubilant

First Citizens BancShares Inc. stock rose 3% on Friday after the lender’s fourth-quarter earnings topped Wall Street estimates.

On an adjusted basis, the company reported fourth-quarter (Q4) net earnings of $45.10 per share, compared with the market estimate of $39.11 per share, according to Koyfin data.

Its net interest income (NII) declined by 10.6% year-over-year (YoY) to $1.71 billion, hurt by a fall in interest income on overnight investments due to a lower average balance and higher interest expense.

The company said a rise in interest income on investment securities partly offset the decline.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based company said its net interest margin fell to 3.32% from 3.86% during the previous year.

The lender said its non-interest income jumped 28.7% to $699 million, helped by higher rental income and gains from acquisition.

The company, which had acquired the troubled lender Silicon Valley Bank in 2023, said its period-end loans and leases rose 5.2% to $140.22 billion while deposits rose 6.4%.

Its provision for credit losses fell 37.8% to $155 million compared to last year.

First Citizens BancShares also forecasted 2025 net interest income between $6.6 billion and $7 billion.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits jumped to ‘extremely bullish’ (92/100) territory from ‘neutral’(47/100) a day ago and hit a year-high, while retail chatter soared to ‘extremely high.’

User comments were largely bullish on the stock.

Last week, Wall Street’s major banks, including JP Morgan & Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs, had all topped profit estimates.

Over the past year, the stock has gained 62%.

Also See: American Express Stock Drops On Q4 Earnings Miss, But Retail Sentiment Hits Year High

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