Fifth Third meets first quarter profit forecasts

CINCINNATI (AP) - Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) on Tuesday reported first-quarter profit of $382 million. The bank, based in Cincinnati, said it had earnings of 44 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 37 cents per share. The results matched Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for earnings of 37 cents per share. The regional bank posted revenue of $1.51 billion in the period, exceeding Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.45 billion. Fifth Third shares have decreased almost 7 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 2 percent. The stock has dropped slightly more than 8 percent in the last 12 months. ------- This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap ) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FITB at http://www.zacks.com/ap/FITB Published: Thu, Apr 23, 2015