Shares of Bank of America Corp. BAC, +1.42% rose 1.8% toward a 13-year high in premarket trading Thursday, after the bank reported profit that more than doubled and beat expectations, citing strong growth in capital markets and lower credit costs, and set a $25 billion stock repurchase program. Net income rose to $8.1 billion, or 86 cents a share, from $4.0 billion, or 40 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was 66 cents. Total revenue was unchanged at $22.8 billion, but topped the FactSet consensus of $21.90 billion, while net interest income (NII) dropped 15.9% to $10.20 billion to fall shy of expectations of $10.27 billion. Consumer banking revenue fell 12% to $8.1 billion, as lower rates led to lower NII, while global markets revenue climbed 19% to $6.2 billion. Provision for credit losses improved to a benefit of $1.9 billion from a cost of $4.8 billion. Separately, the bank said it has authorized the repurchase of up to $25 billion worth of common stock over time. That represents about 7.3% of Bank of America’s market capitalization of $344.29 billion. The stock, which is on track to open at the highest price seen since May 2008, has rallied 20.8% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.41% has gained 9.5%.
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