JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Financial) will be the Dow’s first financial services sector company to report earnings for the fourth quarter of 2014. Analysts expect revenue of $24.1 billion with an earnings per share estimate of $1.35.
In the third quarter of 2014 JPMorgan reported revenue of $25.2 billion with EPS of $1.36. The financial services conglomerate has been steadily growing across all of its major business lines in 2014. Its businesses include Consumer & Community Banking, Corporate & Investment Banking, Commercial Banking, Asset Management and Corporate & Private Equity. Asset Management has been the company’s leading business unit in 2014 reporting net profit for the year through September of $1.565 billion with a year over year gain of 7% from 2013.
In the fourth quarter the company is expected to continue improving on its strength in Asset Management. Meanwhile, JPMorgan’s Consumer & Community Banking division is likely to benefit from improving consumer confidence. A key focus for fourth quarter 2014 earnings announcements overall will be on energy effects from lower oil prices. While lower oil prices are having increasingly negative effects on energy companies, consumer-related sectors are likely to see improvements. This could potentially help JPMorgan’s consumer focused products such as card services and mortgage lending.
While consumer categories are expected to gain in the fourth quarter, downgrades in earnings expectations overall have kept JPMorgan’s stock in the red for 2015. Year to date the stock has lost 5.99%, closing at $58.83 on January 12. It currently has an average analyst value of $67.86 with a low price target of $61. Unless the company reports surprisingly higher earnings than expected for the fourth quarter of 2014 it’s not likely investors will see JPMorgan as a buying opportunity in the currently volatile U.S. market.
