Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) Announced Q1 2026 Earnings on April 14, 2026, Reporting "revenue increasing 6%"

19:27 Episode 73 The Earnings Debate
Wells Fargo & Company earnings call summary and podcast

Wells Fargo & Company reported its first quarter 2026 results, with Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf noting "diluted earnings per share increasing 15%" and "revenue increasing 6%" compared to a year ago.

Chief Financial Officer Michael Santomassimo stated that "net interest income increased $601 million" from a year ago, and "noninterest income increased $696 million". Furthermore, "pretax pre-provision profit grew 14%" from a year ago.

During the first quarter, the company returned $5.4 billion to shareholders, which included $4 billion in common stock repurchases.

Scharf announced that the company closed its final outstanding consent order, stating the focus is now on "accelerating growth and improving returns". During the quarter, Wells Fargo launched 2 new travel-focused reward credit cards available exclusively to new and existing premier and private wealth clients.

The auto business saw originations more than double from a year ago, benefiting from being the preferred financing provider for Volkswagen and Audi vehicles in the United States.

Additionally, the AI-powered virtual assistant, Fargo, reached over 1 billion customer interactions, mobile active users surpassed 33 million, and the company completed the sale of its railcar leasing business.

Regarding forward guidance, Santomassimo stated the company is "retaining our guidance of $50 billion, plus or minus of net interest income this year". He also confirmed that expense guidance is unchanged, and they "still expect 2026 noninterest expense to be approximately $55.7 billion". Scharf emphasized that the company is "increasing our investments in areas like technology, including AI, as well as in advertising", while executing on efficiency initiatives, which has resulted in "23 consecutive quarters of head count reductions".