Top U.S. bank on track for further gains

Article Excerpt

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $116 (New York symbol JPM; Income Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares o/s: 3.5 billion; Market cap: $406.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.3; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. jpmorganchase.com) is the largest banking firm in the U.S., with total assets of $2.5 trillion as of December 31, 2017. Morgan has four main businesses: Consumer and Community Banking, including branches and credit cards (45% of 2017 revenue, 36% of earnings); Corporate and Investment Banking, including brokerage and underwriting services (34%, 41%); Asset Management (13%, 9%); and Commercial Banking, which provides financing and other services to business clients (8%, 14%). About 75% of the bank’s revenue comes from the U.S. Exposure to stock markets a risk factor Morgan gets a higher percentage of its revenue from securities trading than other big U.S. banks. That business has more erratic earnings than its traditional lending operations. Morgan has also sold some of its less-important operations over the past few years. As a result,…