Wells Fargo reported earnings that handily beat estimates.
After its asset cap was lifted, the bank increased its profitability targets.
Wells Fargo’s leaders aim to take the bank to the next level in the medium term.
10 stocks we like better than Wells Fargo ›
Earnings season for the third quarter of 2025 is underway, and most of the big banks have issued reports. While nearly all the financial institutions that have reported so far have beat earnings estimates, there’s a solid case to be made that Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is the biggest winner.
At first, this might come as a surprise to bank stock investors. After all, the positive surprises from companies like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) have been led by strong investment banking results, and this isn’t a major focus of Wells Fargo.
However, looking into the megabank’s results shows why the stock is up by 10% since it revealed its latest results.
Image source: Getty Images.
First, on the headline numbers, Wells Fargo beat analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue in Q3. And the numbers looked rather strong throughout the business.
On the consumer side, Wells Fargo has seen 8% more checking accounts opened year to date than in the same period in 2024. There is 9% growth in credit card accounts (and 12% growth in card fee revenue) and 47% higher net investment flows into client accounts. The bank’s loan portfolio grew by 2%, as did its net interest income. Even investment banking, which has historically not been as big of a focus for Wells Fargo as for other big banks, surged by 25% year over year.
One particularly positive surprise is that Wells Fargo trimmed its provision for credit losses from $1.07 billion a year ago to $681 million, indicating that its loans have stronger credit quality than many had thought. Plus, the bank’s net charge-off rate dropped from 0.49% of the loan portfolio a year ago to just 0.40%.
However, the real story could be what is coming next. If you aren’t familiar, there…
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