SunTrust: year-ago noise obscures third-quarter gains

SunTrust Banks reported a $537 million profit for the the third quarter, a 7 percent drop from a year ago, despite slightly higher revenue.

However, investors reacted favorably to the Atlanta bank’s financial results announced Friday, which showed that the bank has continued to cut labor and other expenses while growing its total loans and deposits.

In early afternoon trading, SunTrust’s shares were up about 1.3 percent, to $40.01.

SunTrust’s third-quarter profit was lower compared to year-ago results partly due to tax benefits that lifted results for the earlier period to $576 million, the bank said. Excluding the tax effect, SunTrust said its “adjusted” profit in the most recent quarter was 20 percent higher than a year ago.

“SunTrust delivered solid earnings performance in the third quarter, driven by continued loan and deposit growth, improved efficiency, and strong asset quality trends,” SunTrust CEO William H. Rogers, Jr., said in a statement.

Revenue for the quarter was $2.06 billion, about 1 percent higher than a year ago.

Meanwhile, the bank said its loan portfolio grew 1.6 percent over the past year, to $132.8 billion, and deposits grew almost 10 percent, to $145.2 billion.

On the other hand, SunTrust has continued to cut its physical operations, with few employees, bank branches and ATMs than it had a year ago.

SunTrust said it had 24,124 employees on Sept. 30, the quarter’s end, 950 fewer than a year ago.

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Russell Grantham

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