Topic: How To Invest

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, January 14, 2022

Article Excerpt

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO., $157.89, New York symbol JPM, remains a buy. The stock lets investors tap the largest banking firm in the U.S., with total assets of $3.74 trillion as of December 31, 2021. The bank continues to take back the funds it set aside in early 2020 to cover potential bad loans as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns. In the fourth quarter of 2021, due to those reversals, the bank recorded a net credit of $1.29 billion. However, that’s less than the year-earlier credit of $1.90 billion when it took back more of those loan-loss provisions. The bank is also spending more on employee salaries and new computer systems. As a result, Morgan’s earnings fell 15.1%, to $9.93 billion from $10.70 billion. It spent $1.9 billion on share buybacks during the quarter. As a result, per-share earnings declined at a slower rate of 12.4%, to $3.33 from $3.80. Even so, that still beat the consensus estimate of $3.01. Revenue gained 0.6%,…