Discover Financial Services reports mixed Q1 results as earnings fall short
Investing.com -- Discover Financial Services reported Wednesday mixed first-quarter results as earnings missed, but revenue beat expectations.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) shares were slightly lower in after-hours trade following the report.
For the quarter ended Mar. 31, Discover Financial Services announced earnings of $1.10 per share on revenue of $4.21 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $2.95 on revenue of $4.07B.
Total Discover card volume was $53.24B, down from $54.13B a year earlier.
The net charge-off rate, a measure of loan portfolio performance, rose 220 basis points to 4.92% versus the prior year period, driven "by continued seasoning of recent vintages with higher delinquency trends," the company said. A higher net charge-off rate typically signals that a lender is experiencing a higher level of loan losses.
The company set aside more cash for bad loans, or increased its provisions for credit losses to $1.50B from $1.10B a year earlier.
The quarterly results come as the company looks to wrap up its $35B merger with Capital One later this year or early next year.
