J.P. Morgan's fourth-quarter profits top Wall Street estimates

NEW YORK -- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.86 billion, well above what Wall Street analysts had expected.

Like other major banks that have been reporting earnings in recent days, J.P. Morgan's profits were boosted by improvements in both corporate and consumer credit as well as the rebounding stock market.

Among those other banks, profits at Bank One Corp. were well above projections. J.P. Morgan announced last week that it is acquiring Bank One, which on Tuesday reported its highest quarterly profit in 4 1/2 years. The $58 billion deal will create the nation's second largest financial institution, behind only Citigroup.

J.P. Morgan said its earnings of 89 cents a share in the fourth quarter compared with a loss of $387 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding merger and restructuring costs, earnings in the final quarter of 2002 were $730 million, or 36 cents a share, the bank said.

The latest results easily beat the consensus forecast of 77 cents a share by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

J.P. Morgan also beat the annual projection, reporting profits of $6.72 billion, or $3.24 per share, for 2003 on revenue of $31.72 billion. In 2002, profits were $1.66 billion, or 80 cents a share, on revenue of $25.28 billion. Analysts had projected earnings for the year of $3.15.

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