Regional Bank PNC Leads S&P 500 Gainers After Better-than-expected First-quarter Earnings

Shares of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. rose 3.7% to lead S&P 500 gainers on Friday, after the regional bank reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter. PNC said it had a profit of $1.06 billion, or $1.96 a share, in the quarter, up from $924 million, or $1.68 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue climbed 6% to $3.88 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of $1.83 and revenue of $3.83 billion. The bank reaped the benefits of the Federal Reserve's December rake hike, which helped boost interest income. "Net interest income beat expectations on better securities yields (securities yields were up 19 basis points quarter-over-quarter), with the net interest margin up 8 basis points to 2.77% and better period-end and average loan growth (period-end loans up 0.9% Q-Q)," said Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin. Shares have gained 2.9% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.9%.