Bear Stearns Net Rises 16%
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Bear Stearns Cos., fueled by gains in trading stocks and bonds, posted the biggest third-quarter earnings increase yet on Wall Street.
Net income climbed 16% to $438 million, or $3.02 a share, in the fiscal third quarter ended August 31, from $378 million, or $2.69,a year earlier, the New York-based company said in a statement. Profit exceeded the average estimate of $2.87 a share from 14 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Chief Executive Officer James Cayne led Bear Stearns to a 22% increase in trading revenue and outpaced the 13% gain at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s 1.7 %. Shares of Bear Stearns rose 6.4% this week after its larger rivals reported better-than-expected profits.
Total revenue increased 17% to $2.1 billion. Fixed-income revenue, which includes mortgage-bond underwriting and bond trading, rose 19% to $878 million in the third quarter.