Capital One Profit Falls -- Update

By Josh Beckerman 

Capital One Financial Corp. said its profit fell 7.9% in the fourth quarter, hurt by higher marketing and operating expenses, while revenue climbed.

As one of the country's largest credit-card lenders, Capital One's results are often considered a gauge of consumer sentiment. The company also offers traditional bank accounts, mortgages, auto loans and commercial loans.

Capital One reported a profit of $920 million, or $1.58 a share in the fourth quarter, compared with $999 million, or $1.73 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings were $1.67 a share.

Revenue improved to $6.19 billion from $5.81 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share profit of $1.61 on revenue of $6.11 billion.

Non-interest expenses increased 6% to $3.5 billion, while marketing costs rose 11% and operating expenses climbed 6.1%.

Earnings from continuing operations fell to $1.56 a share from $1.68 a year earlier.

Provision for credit losses rose to $1.38 billion from $1.11 billion.

In late 2015, Capital One bought a health-care financing business from General Electric Co. for about $9 billion.

Last week, American Express Co. said fourth-quarter earnings were hurt by a strengthening U.S. dollar, pressure on merchant fees and competition. The company also issued a bleak outlook for 2017.

Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and Discover Financial Services Inc. are scheduled to report results this week.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 26, 2016 18:08 ET (23:08 GMT)

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