Shares of Charles Schwab Corp. SCHW rose 1.0% in premarket trading Monday, after the discount broker and financial services company reported first-quarter profit that beat expectations, while revenue came up a bit shy. Chief Executive Officer Walt Bettinger said while the stock market rebounded during the quarter, equity investor sentiment “remained bearish,” while the bond markets reflected “growing fears of an economic downturn.” Net income rose to $1.60 billion, or 83 cents a share, from $1.40 billion, or 67 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 93 cents topped the FactSet consensus of 90 cents. Revenue grew 9.5% to $5.12 billion, just below the FactSet consensus of $5.14 bln. Total interest-earnings assets dropped 20.2% to $504.60 billion. The stock has tumbled 39.0% year to date through Friday, while the Financial Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund XLF has slipped 3.9% and the S&P 500 SPX has gained 7.8%.
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