Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) reported its Q1 earnings results on Friday, with EPS of $1.23 coming in better than the Street estimate of $1.12. Revenue was $20.73 billion, beating the Street estimate of $20.12 billion.
The company’s net interest income of $13.34 billion exceeded the Street’s expectation of $13.09 billion, and its return on equity was 11.7%, surpassing the anticipated 10.5% and significantly improving from the 8.7% recorded during the same period last year.
Wells Fargo executives discussed the bank’s exposure to commercial real estate (CRE) during a conference call with analysts, acknowledging the risk posed by empty offices in major cities due to remote working.
CEO Charlie Scharf noted that there are “pockets of risks” and the bank is proactively managing its own exposures. As of March, the company had outstanding CRE loans of $154.7 billion, accounting for 16% of total loans, with $35.7 billion in office loans.