Bank of America’s fourth-quarter profit surged sharply, beating analyst estimates, as the banking giant bounced back from a year-ago weighed down by one-time charges, while also benefiting from stronger credit quality.
BofA reported a profit of $3.44 billion versus a profit of $732 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, which was weighed down by charges tied to a $11.6 billion settlement with Fannie Mae (FNMA).
On a per-share basis, the bank reported a profit of 29 cents, beating the 26 cents a share expected by analysts. BofA gained 2.3% to $17.15.
Revenue climbed 15 percent to $21.49 billion, compared with analysts’ expectation of $21.24 billion.
The second-largest US bank by assets has made progress in recent quarters in moving beyond expensive legal woes tied to its 2008 acquisition of home lender Countrywide Financial Corp.
The results come as CEO Brian Moynihan looks to methodically build back a financial institution that suffered heavily from past mistakes. Mr. Moynihan has been leading a push for Bank of America to cross-sell various products in areas such as the firm’s brokerage division, while making a renewed push into mortgages after the bank backed away from that business somewhat in 2011 and 2012.
Bank of America’s consumer real estate division — which includes mortgage banking — reported a loss of $1.06 billion. In the year-earlier quarter and the third quarter, the division reported a net loss of $3.7 billion and $1 billion respectively.
This article originally appeared on MarketWatch.com.