Capital One 2Q profit up, plans $2B stock offering

• Article

MCLEAN, Va. — Capital One Financial Corp. said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit climbed 50 percent as it made more money from deposits, loans and fees. The financial services company also announced a $2 billion stock offering.

The earnings beat Wall Street expectations, and its shares rose 85 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $53.09 in premarket trading.

The McLean, Va., company said its net income rose to $911 million, or $1.97 per share, compared with $608 million, or $1.33 per share, a year ago. Revenue for the period ended June 30 increased 2 percent to $3.99 billion from $3.90 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.73 per share on revenue of $4 billion.

Net interest income, the money earned from deposits and loans, rose to $3.14 billion from $3.1 billion.

Non-interest income, or money earned from fees and charges, climbed to $857 million from $807 million.

The amount of balances the bank has had to write off as uncollectible fell during the quarter as the net charge-off rate dropped to 2.91 percent.

The company also set aside less money for loan and lease losses, as its provision for those losses declined to $343 million from $723 million.

Capital One, which is known for its Capital One is known for its "What's in Your Wallet?" advertising campaign, said marketing expenses increased to $329 million from $219 million during the quarter.

The company plans to use proceeds from the stock offering to pay for part of its $9 billion acquisition of ING Direct. The cash-and-stock deal was announced last month.

It said the stock offering is subject to forward sale agreements with Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley.

Capital One is giving the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to an additional $300 million shares to cover any excess demand.