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JPMorgan Beats Street's Profit View

Laurie Kulikowski

JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) handily beat Wall Street's second-quarter profit expectations, despite a slide in earnings caused by fresh writedowns to mortgage-related holdings and a deteriorating consumer environment.

The New York bank posted a net profit of $2 billion, or 54 cents a share, vs. $4.2 billion, or $1.20 a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expectred a profit of 44 cents a share. The 55% slide in profit was due in part to a $540 million after-tax loss related to the acquisition of Bear Stearns completed in May. Excluding the loss, JPMorgan earned $2.5 billion.

JPMorgan's bottom line also was cut into by $1.1 billion in writedowns to its leveraged loans and mortgage-related securities portfolio. The bank boosted its provision against credit losses to $1.3 billion, to cover estimated losses in high loan-to-value home equity and mortgage loans.

"I am pleased with the strength of our balance sheet and capital positions, particularly in the context of the market challenges we have faced during the past year," Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said in a company statement.