Wells Fargo & Company
Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 16 Jul 2008

[Bob Strickland:]

Thank you for calling into the Wells Fargo second quarter 2008 earnings review prerecorded call. Before we discuss our second quarter results we need to make the standard securities law disclosure. In this call we will make forward-looking statements about specific income statement and balance sheet items and other measures of future results of operations and financial conditions, including statements about future credit quality and losses generally, and specifically that we expect higher losses in the home equity portfolio until home prices stabilize, that we believe we can mitigate losses by working with customers who are experiencing financial stress, and that, based on the current interest rate environment, most of our adjustable rate mortgages at Wells Fargo Financial scheduled to reset during the remainder of 2008 will reset at or below their current rate. Forward-looking statements give our expectations about the future. They're not guarantees and results may differ from expectations. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and we do not undertake any obligation to update them to reflect changes that occur after that date. For a discussion of some of the factors that may cause actual results to differ from expectations, refer to our SEC filings, including the 8K filed today, which includes the press release announcing our second quarter results, and to our most recent annual report on Form 10K and quarterly report on Form 10Q, filed with the SEC and to the information incorporated into those documents. Now I will turn the review over to our Chief Financial Officer, Howard Atkins.

[Howard Atkins:]

Wells Fargo earned a $1.8 billion profit or $0.53 a share in the second quarter. Our credit-related expenses, including a $1.5 billion credit reserve build, were $3 billion in the quarter, up $2.3 billion from a year ago. But nevertheless, we continued to grow our company profitability at a time when many of our peers are losing money and shrinking, we continued to shift our asset portfolio toward lower-risk, higher risk-adjusted return business and, even with 15% annualized linked-quarter growth in earning assets, we increased our capital ratios. Here are some of the metrics that highlight the profitable growth we've achieved year over year and the further strengthening of our balance sheet this quarter