US Bancorp 4Q Net Income Rises 5 Percent

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. Bancorp said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter net income rose 5.2 percent, as the bank reaped more income from loans and deposits.

Its adjusted earnings narrowly beat Wall Street forecasts but revenue was short. Its shares slipped 23 cents to $33.06 in premarket trading.

The Minneapolis-based bank said its net income attributable to its shareholders rose to $1.42 billion, or 72 cents per share, up from $1.35 billion, or 69 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

The recent quarter's results included one-time charges totaling 3 cents per share. Excluding those, the bank posted an adjusted profit of 75 cents per share.

Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 74 cents per share, according to a FactSet poll.

Net interest income rose 4 percent to $2.78 billion. Net interest income combines interest on loans that the bank collects and interest on deposits and debt that the bank pays out. It is a measure of the bank's ability to profit from its lending.

The company's total loans rose 6 percent to $220.27 billion, helped by a 16 percent jump in commercial loans to $63.93 billion and a 19 percent increase in residential mortgages to $43.16 billion.

Meanwhile, total deposits increased 9 percent to $243.85 billion.

But noninterest income, which includes revenue from fees and other sources, dropped 4 percent to $2.33 billion, hurt by the absence of $292 million in one-time gains recorded in the year-ago period.

Total revenue was relatively flat at $5.11 billion. Analysts expected $5.16 billion.

The company's provision for loan losses, or the amount of money it set aside to cover soured loans, fell 11 percent to $443 million.

For the full year 2012, U.S. Bancorp's net income attributable to shareholders rose to $5.38 billion, or $2.84 per share, up from $4.72 billion, or $2.46 per share, in 2011. Total revenue rose to $20.29 billion from $19.11 billion.

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