Looking Ahead of Wall Street: JPM, BAC, C

Wall Street has an exciting week ahead as investment banks are scheduled to announce their fourth quarter fiscal 2014 earnings reports.

J.P Morgan Chase:

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) is set to announce their fourth quarter fiscal 2014 earnings report on Wednesday, January 14th before the market opens. The company is expected to post earnings of $1.37 per share, down from $1.40 earnings per share the same quarter last year.
J.P Morgan is currently the largest holding company in the U.S. by assets with $2.53 trillion.

J.P Morgan had a strong year in 2014 with shares increasing 7%. However, the company’s shares have fallen 5% so far in 2015. The plunge came after Goldman Sachs issued a critical note questioning a J.P Morgan breakup on January 5th. While some believe a breakup would be beneficial for the company, others believe it wouldn’t provide the positive shareholder returns expected.

In addition, investors will be looking to see if J.P Morgan can cut core expenses while igniting loan growth.

On average, the top analyst consensus for JPM on TipRanks is Strong Buy.



Bank of America:

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is scheduled to announce their fourth quarter fiscal 2014 earnings report on Thursday, January 15th before the market opens. The company is expected to post $0.33 earnings per share, up from the same quarter last year when they posted $0.29 earnings per share.

The company is still a victim of the 2008 financial crisis. Over the past few years, Bank of America’s earnings results were clouded by investors worrying about legal liabilities in regards to the subprime mortgage crisis. However, the bank’s legal settlements have been squared away and now investors can focus on the future.

Now that Bank of America has been able to put the crisis behind them, the company is in a good position to compensate investors in share price appreciation and dividend increases.

On average, the top analyst consensus for BAC on TipRanks is Hold.



Citigroup:

Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) is set to announce their fourth quarter fiscal 2014 earnings report on Thursday, January 15th before the market opens. The company is expected to post $0.14 earnings per share, down from $0.76 earnings per share the same quarter last year.

Over the past 8 consecutive quarters, Citigroup's re-positioning costs have added up to roughly $2.6 billion, averaging about $350 million per quarter. However, the bank raked in about $800 million of re-positioning fees in the fourth quarter of 2014 alone. The rise in costs is most likely attributed to Citigroup management’s focus on reaching their 2015 targets.

Citigroup also recently revealed that they will be cutting bonuses for fixed-income and equity traders by 5-10% in comparison to last year. This is due to the company’s mediocre year, having dropped 9% in trading revenue.

In addition, Citigroup Co-President James Forsee announced on January 7th that the company's December revenue was worse than they had originally predicted.

On average, the top analyst consensus for C on TipRanks is Hold.



Investors have an exciting week ahead of them in anticipation of the potential earnings outcome of these companies on Wall Street.