U.S. Bancorp Lifted By Strong Fee Revenue

MINNEAPOLIS (TheStreet --U.S. Bancorp(USB Quote) Wednesday topped Wall Street expectations for its third-quarter earnings with revenue growth of nearly 26 percent fueled by higher net interest income and fee revenue.

The company earned $603 million, or 30 cents a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from a year-ago equivalent profit of $576 million, or 32 cents a share, and its second-quarter earnings of $471 million, or 12 cents a share.

The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for earnings of 27 cents a share in the September period.

Revenue totaled $4.25 billion for the latest quarter, up from $3.38 billion a year ago, and $4.16 billion in the second quarter. Non-interest income jumped 48% year-over-year to $2.1 billion for the quarter, getting a boost from strong mortgage loan volume, ATM processing fees, higher treasury management fees, and a jump in revenue from commercial products.

The company said the most recent quarter included a $415 million provision for credit losses in excess of net charge-offs, $76 million in net securities losses, and a $36 million gain related to its investment in Visa(V Quote). It estimated the net impact of these items lowered earnings in the third quarter by 19 cents a share.

U.S. Bancorp's Tier 1 Capital ratio stood at 9.5% at quarter's end.

The stock closed Tuesday at $23.80.

Written by Michael Baron in New York.