JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) Stock Price Up Today After Earnings

The JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) stock price is up 0.35% today (Tuesday) to $57.64 despite Q4 profit slipping 7% to $5.3 billion, or $1.30 per share. That compares to $5.7 billion, or $1.39 per share, the previous quarter.

Analysts had projected earnings per share (EPS) of $1.35 for JPMorgan.

But JPM's adjusted earnings - excluding items like legal costs, funding valuation adjustments, and debt valuation adjustments - were at $1.40.

"Overall earnings were better than expected when you exclude one-time items," Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst with RBC Capital Markets, told The Wall Street Journal. "The weakness in capital markets was offset by its asset management, consumer, and commercial banking businesses."

Fixed-income trading revenue rose 1% from 2012's Q4. Net income from mortgage banking grew to $562 million - up from $144 million in 2012's Q4.

The bank attributed part of the earnings miss to the 57% dip in its investment-banking profit. Mortgage loan originations were down 54% from the previous year, at $23.3 billion.

JPM revenue fell 1% to $24.1 billion in Q4. For 2013, net income was $17.9 billion compared to $21.3 billion in 2012. Likewise, full year EPS was $4.35 in 2013, compared to $5.20 for 2012.

JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) Earnings Bruised by Legal Costs

There were quite a few legal issues facing JPM throughout 2013, and the bank totaled approximately $20 billion in payouts and penalties throughout the year.

Some of the more notable recent payouts included a $13 billion settlement in November for the bank's habit of continually overstating the quality of mortgages it was selling. Another $2 billion was paid out for its role in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.

With those legal woes behind them, JPM officials are confident in the bank's potential moving forward.

"We are pleased to have mode progress on our control, regulatory and litigation agendas and to have put some significant issues behind us this quarter," JPM's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

Looking Forward with JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) Stock

After an initial 2% slip in premarket trading Tuesday, JPM stock recovered and was actually trading above Monday's close. Despite all the negative headlines in 2013, JPM stock has climbed an impressive 25% in the last year.

It seems the earnings miss will only serve as a blip on the radar, and for analysts the banking stock is a viable growth option.

"[JPMorgan] is the cheapest big bank by any metric. It has a single-digit forward-earnings multiple, and it trades at 1.5 times tangible book value," Robert Ewing, Co-Head of U.S. Equities at Putnam Fund for Growth and Income, told Barron's. "JPMorgan still has several things to resolve, but there is a high probability that the big negatives have peaked and will slowly get better from here."

A few legal black eyes and a down earnings report don't seem capable of keeping down JPM stock.

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