Wells Fargo (WFC) Stock: Beat on Every Line, But Investors Hit Sell Anyway

TLDR

• Wells Fargo posted Q2 EPS of $2.00, beating the $1.72 analyst estimate on revenue of $22.62 billion
• Net income jumped 17% to $6.41 billion year-over-year
• Markets revenue surged 24%, with equities trading up 64%
• Investment banking fees rose 35% to $939 million, driven by debt and equity underwriting
• The bank raised its Q3 dividend 11% to $0.50 per share and repurchased $3 billion in stock

---

Wells Fargo (WFC) beat Wall Street expectations across the board in Q2 2026, but the stock still fell nearly 2% in premarket trading Tuesday — part of a broader selloff hitting bank stocks after JPMorgan also dropped 2.6% following its own results.

Wells Fargo & Company, WFC

The San Francisco-based bank reported earnings per share of $2.00, well above the $1.72 consensus forecast. Revenue came in at $22.62 billion versus estimates of $21.87 billion.

Net income climbed 17% year-over-year to $6.41 billion. Total expenses rose just 2%, with non-revenue-related expenses actually falling year-over-year.

WELLS FARGO $WFC Q2’26 EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS

🔹 Revenue: $22.62B (Est. $21.87B) 🟢; +9% YoY
🔹 EPS: $2.00 (Est. $1.72) 🟢; +25% YoY
🔹 Net Interest Income: $12.32B (Est. $12.32B) 🟡
🔹 Net Loan Charge-Offs: $876M (Est. $1.1B) 🟢; -10 bps YoY
🔹 Average Loans: $1.03T (Est. $1.02T)… pic.twitter.com/1J6Em5ktfZ

— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) July 14, 2026

CEO Charlie Scharf pointed to a resilient consumer: “Consumer spending is higher, charge-offs and delinquencies are lower, and savings and investments are growing across consumer segments.”

Net interest income rose 5% to $12.32 billion, helped by a 12% jump in average loans. The bank kept its full-year NII forecast steady at roughly $50 billion.

Trading Desks Deliver

Volatile markets were good for business. Markets revenue surged 24% to $2.21 billion. Equities trading shot up 64%, while fixed income, currencies, and commodities rose 10%.

Wells Fargo has been putting more balance sheet to work in its markets business — something it couldn’t do freely during the asset-cap era that ended last year.

The trading boom wasn’t unique to Wells Fargo. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America also reported strong Q2 trading results on Tuesday.

Investment Banking Has a Big Quarter

Investment banking fees rose 35% to $939 million, with higher debt and equity underwriting driving the gains.

Wells Fargo served as joint bookrunner on SpaceX’s $86 billion IPO — the largest on record. It also advised NextEra Energy on its $67 billion deal for Dominion Energy and worked on Apollo’s $35 billion financing package for AI lab Anthropic’s compute expansion.

The bank climbed to fourth place in U.S. M&A rankings by volume in the first half of 2026, up from eighth a year earlier, according to Dealogic.

Corporate and Investment Banking revenue grew 16% overall. Wealth and Investment Management rose 13%.

Dealmaking has picked up in 2026 as companies take advantage of a more relaxed regulatory environment.

Scharf acknowledged the good times may not last: “We know that such favorable conditions do not go on forever so we are being selective about how much and where to grow.”

The bank ended June with 197,466 employees, dropping below 200,000 for the first time. Headcount has fallen every quarter since late 2020.

Wells Fargo plans to raise its Q3 common stock dividend by 11% to $0.50 per share. The bank also repurchased $3 billion of common stock during the quarter.