CHARLOTTE — Bank of America Corp. says its net income doubled to $8.05 billion in the first quarter.
The bank, based in Charlotte, said Thursday that it had earnings of 86 cents per share, up from 40 cents a year earlier.
Bank of America was able to free up $2.7 billion of the reserves it had set aside early in the pandemic in case of loan defaults, giving a boost to its bottom line in the latest quarter.
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The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 65 cents per share.
The nation’s second-largest bank posted revenue of $24.02 billion in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $22.82 billion, also exceeding Street forecasts and unchanged from a year ago. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $21.91 billion.
Bank of America shares have climbed 32% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P’s 500 index has climbed almost 10%. The stock has climbed 68% in the last 12 months.
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