Wintrust Financial Profit Misses Estimate, Revenue Beats

(RTTNews) - Wintrust Financial Corp (WTFC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net earnings to common stockholders of $36.6 million or $0.75 per share compared with $33.7 million or $0.70 per share last year.

Revenues for the quarter were $211.4 million compared with $188.7 million in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.77 per share on revenues of $210.6 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net interest income for the quarter climbed to $153.7 million from $142.3 million last year, while net interest margin slid to 3.46% from 3.43%.

Non-interest income totaled $57.7 million in the quarter, up 24% from a year ago.

CEO Edward Wehmer said, " We will continue to evaluate strategic acquisitions and organic branch growth as part of our growth strategy with the goal of becoming Chicago's bank. Our pipelines for both internal growth and external growth remain consistently strong. We continue to take a steady and measured approach to achieve our main objectives of growing franchise value, increasing profitability, leveraging our expense infrastructure and increasing shareholder value."