<p>Wells Fargo & Co. says first-quarter net income jumped to $4.74 billion from $653 million a year earlier, when the pandemic struck the global economy.</p>
<p>The San Francisco-based bank said Wednesday that it had earnings of $1.05 per share in the latest quarter, compared with a profit of 1 cent per share a year earlier. </p>
<p>The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 69 cents per share.</p>
<p>The biggest U.S. mortgage lender posted revenue of $19.3 billion in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $18.06 billion, also surpassing Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected revenue of $17.62 billion. Year-ago revenue net of interest expense was $17.7 billion. </p>
<p>Wells Fargo shares have climbed 32% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P’s 500 index has increased 10%. The stock has increased 27% in the last 12 months.</p>
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<p>This story was partially generated using information from Automated Insights (<a href="http://automatedinsights.com/ap">http://automatedinsights.com/ap</a>) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WFC at <a href="https://www.zacks.com/ap/WFC">https://www.zacks.com/ap/WFC</a></p>
