Washington Mutual Easily Beats First-Quarter Estimates

Washington Mutual (WM Quote) easily surpassed Wall Street's earnings estimates for the latest first quarter, and the financial services company declared a 3-for-2 stock split, payable May 15 to shareholders of record April 30.

For the quarter ended March 31, the Seattle-based company earned $641 million, or $1.15 a diluted share, compared with earnings of $458.5 million, or 83 cents a diluted share, in the year-ago period. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.02 a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

"Washington Mutual has entered 2001 on a very successful note,'' the company said in a press release. "By all key measures -- for both top line growth and bottom line results -- our company produced excellent results in the first quarter. We look forward to building on that momentum and continuing to profitably grow our national franchises.''

Net interest income for the quarter rose 25% to $1.36 billion from $1.08 billion a year earlier. Total noninterest income rose to $749.8 million from $423.1 million. Securities fees and commissions fell to $72.2 million from $82.6 million for the same period one year ago.

Consolidated assets as of March 31 reached $219.93 billion, compared with $194.72 billion on Dec. 31 and $188.61 billion a year ago.