Wells Fargo profit beats estimates, shares fall as interest income misses forecast

People walk by a Wells Fargo bank branch in New York City, U.S. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters/FILE via CNN Newsource)

Wells Fargo’s profit beat analysts’ estimates in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, but its shares were weighed down before the bell by interest income that missed expectations.

The bank, which had twice reduced its annual interest income expectations last year, said net interest income — the difference between what it earns on loans and pays out on deposits — rose four per cent to US$12.33 billion in the quarter from a year earlier, but missed expectations of $12.46 billion.

Wells Fargo forecast interest income to be about $50 billion in 2026. Analysts on average were expecting $50.33 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

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The bank’s stock, which had surged 32.7 per cent in 2025, was down 1.7 per cent before the bell.

The fourth-largest U.S. lender’s net income was $5.36 billion, or $1.62 per share, in the three months ended December 31, it said on Wednesday. That compares with $5.08 billion, or $1.43 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, Wells Fargo earned $1.76 per share in the quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations of $1.67, according to estimates compiled by LSEG.

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The bank recorded $612 million in severance expenses in the quarter as part of its job cuts.

The results cap a strong year for the U.S. bank as regulators removed a $1.95 trillion asset cap in June, lifting a penalty linked to Wells Fargo’s fake-accounts scandal, allowing the bank to grow and pushing total assets past the $2 trillion mark last year for the first time.

“We have funded significant increased investments in infrastructure and business growth by driving greater savings... Evidence of increased growth can be seen across the company,” CEO Charlie Scharf said in a statement.

Wells Fargo also closed seven consent orders last year, drawing a line under its regulatory woes tied to a fake-accounts scandal. It still has one remaining consent order from 2018.

Job cuts

Under Scharf, the bank has streamlined its workforce, leaning on cost cuts to fund long-term growth initiatives.

Scharf said last month that Wells Fargo will keep trimming headcount as it focuses on becoming more efficient, adding that artificial intelligence presents a major opportunity to boost productivity.

Wells Fargo ended 2025 with 205,198 employees, compared with 210,821 as of September 30. Its headcount has fallen every quarter since late 2020.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Nivedita Balu in Toronto; editing by Lananh Nguyen and Sriraj Kalluvila)