Wells Fargo Q4 Earnings Preview: Investors Eye NII Figure, Analysts Sound Optimism Ahead Of Quarterly Report

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) shares traded marginally in the green on Monday morning as Wall Street prepared for the lender’s fourth-quarter earnings.

Analysts expect the bank to report earnings per share (EPS) of $1.34 on revenue of $20.57 billion. Given that third-quarter NII came in lower than expected, investors will keenly eye the bank’s net interest income (NII), the difference between interest earned and interest expended, for the quarter.

The decline was led by higher funding costs, reflecting customer migration to higher-yielding deposit products and deposit mix and pricing changes, among other things.

Meanwhile, Truist initiated coverage of Wells Fargo with a ‘Buy’ rating and a $82 price target, according to TheFly.

The brokerage noted that Wells Fargo is also on a path to better leveraging the breadth of its customer base, and distribution network and scale into higher returns and inflecting towards franchise growth after years of stagnation.

At the same time, Keefe Bruyette raised the firm's price target on Wells Fargo to $81 from $79 while keeping a ‘Market Perform’ rating on the shares as part of a Q4 earnings preview for the banks.

According to TheFly, the brokerage highlighted that the recent pullback in bank stocks provides an opportunity for investors to selectively add exposure ahead of what it believes will be "fairly constructive" 2025 guides.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment surrounding Wells Fargo jumped into the ‘neutral’ territory (50/100) from ‘bearish’ a day ago. The move was accompanied by ‘extremely high’ retail chatter.

WFC’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 9:10 a.m. ET on Jan. 13, 2025 | Source: Stocktwits

Wells Fargo shares have gained over 49% over the past year, significantly outperforming the S&P Banks Select Industry Index’s performance during the period.

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