WELLS FARGO & CO. $30 (New York symbol WFC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 5.3 billion; Market cap: $159.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.wellsfargo.com) earned $15.0 billion in 2011. That’s up 29.2% from $11.6 billion in 2010. Earnings per share rose 27.6%, to $2.82 from $2.21, on more shares outstanding. More clients are repaying their loans on time. As a result, loan-loss provisions fell 49.9%, to $7.9 billion from $15.8 billion. This was the main reason for earnings gain.
Revenue fell 5.0%, to $80.9 billion from $85.2 billion. Demand for mortgages and credit cards is rising. However, the bank is getting less interest income from borrowers due to today’s low interest rates.
Wells Fargo is still a hold.