U.S. regional banks Comerica Inc. (CMA) Tuesday released financial results showing that the bank grew net profit by 27 percent for the first quarter, thanks to the improvement in the credit environment which led to decline in loan losses and growth in lending.
This financial performance outperformed the consensus expectations, sending the board of directors to consider raising the quarterly dividend by by 50 percent to 15 cents per share.
As of the quarter ended March 31, the bank realized a net profit of $129 million, or 66 cents per share compared with $102 million, or 57 cents a year earlier and the data was also well above the expectation of 55 cents per share of the analysts accepted the survey by FactSet.
Loan losses decreased by more than half from a year earlier of $49 million to $23 million.
The bank’s total loan amount grew 7 percent to $42.3 billion, benefiting from the improvement in the commercial lending business. Total deposits increased 19 percent to $48.3 billion. Net interest income rose 12 percent to $443 million. Non-interest income was $206 million, flat with a year earlier.
Promoted by the better-than-expected financial results, CMA stock price rose 3.53 percent, or $1.09, to finish at $31.95.