Bank of New York Mellon Falls after Missing Estimates

Shares of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) are falling more than 4% in morning trade after the company reported fourth quarter profit below analyst estimates. The company said fourth-quarter profit dropped $505 million, or $0.42 per common share, compared with $679 million, or $0.54 per common share, in the fourth quarter of 2010 and $651 million, or $0.53 per common share, in the third quarter of 2011. This is well below analyst estimates that were calling for earnings of $0.52 per common share.

The company continues to suffer in a low interest rate environment. The company said it booked a charge of $107 million, or 6 cents a share, for operational improvements designed to save as much as $700 million before taxes by 2015.

“I am pleased with the meaningful progress we made in improving our capital position and reducing operating expenses.  Our Basel III Tier 1 common equity ratio was 7.1% at the end of the quarter, and we continued to generate strong returns on tangible common equity.  It was a challenging revenue quarter, as general uncertainty in the financial markets resulted in lower-than-normal levels of client activity”.

“Our results were also impacted by seasonality in our Depositary Receipts business.  We remained focused on driving our operational excellence initiatives and managing our expense base lower to offset weak market conditions,” said Gerald L. Hassell, chairman, president and chief executive officer of BNY Mellon”. He added.“It was a weak quarter driven by conditions of the capital markets, including low interest rates,” Gerard Cassidy, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Portland, Maine, said in a telephone interview after earnings were released. Most analysts probably didn’t include a one-time charge for restructuring in their estimates, Cassidy said.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.