JP Morgan's been having a pretty busy week and earnings season hasn't even started yet.
On Wednesday, the nation’s largest bank launched a new digital media business that would allow advertisers to target the company's 80 million customers based on their spending data.
The new platform called Chase Media Solutions will combine the scale of a retail media network with Chase-owned transaction data to help brands target customers precisely, the company said, according to Reuters.
The launch of the media business comes two years after JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon acquired card-linking marketing platform Figg.
And then, on Thursday, news broke that JP Morgan Chase reorganized the leadership in its global banking division, installing new leaders in capital markets and investment banking.
The new structure merges the commercial, corporate, and investment banking groups under executives Filippo Gori and Doug Petno.
Outspoken CEO
These moves follow January's reshuffle of executives in its investment banking and consumer units, which aimed to give them more experience running different businesses as Wall Street focuses on succession plans for CEO Jamie Dimon.
People familiar with Dimon’s plans say he has no intention of stepping down soon, the Financial Times reported in January.
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Dimon, who has been CEO since 2006, will earn a projected $50 million if he remains with the bank until 2026. JPMorgan has also hinted that Dimon could remain chairman of the board of directors even after relinquishing the CEO job.
JP Morgan Chase is one of several financial institutions scheduled to report first-quarter results on April 12. The list includes Bank of America (BAC) , Wells Fargo (WFC) , and Citigroup (C) .
Analysts polled by FactSet expect JP Morgan Chase earned $4.18 a share on revenue of $41.8 billion in Q1.
In January, the financial institution posted fourth-quarter earnings of $3.04 per share on revenue of $38.6 billion. Analysts had predicted earnings of $3.35 a share on revenue of $39.7 billion.
"The U.S. economy continues to be resilient, with consumers still spending, and markets currently expect a soft landing," Dimon said in a statement. "It is important to note that the economy is being fueled by large amounts of government deficit spending and past stimulus."
"There is also an ongoing need for increased spending due to the green economy, the restructuring of global supply chains, higher military spending, and rising healthcare costs," said Dimon. "This may lead inflation to be stickier and rates to be higher than markets expect."
Dimon also took a shot at a series of regulatory and legislative proposals, including the Basel III endgame, an international regulatory accord designed to improve the regulation, supervision, and risk management of the banking sector.
Analysts adjust their banking outlook
He said the various proposals "could cause serious harm to consumers, businesses, and markets."
"We hope that regulators will make the necessary adjustments so the rules promote a strong financial system without causing undue consequences for end users," he said.
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Analysts are reconsidering their price targets for JP Morgan Chase ahead of the first-quarter earnings report.
UBS raised its stock price target to $226 from $196 and kept a buy rating on the shares as part of a first-quarter earnings preview for the bank and consumer finance sector.
In a research note, the firm tells investors that bank stocks have had a nice run coming out of the first quarter conference season, as investors "breathed a sigh of relief" over a lack of major net interest income outlook revisions from regional banks.
However, UBS believes banks are not yet "out of the woods" regarding downward revisions, which makes it think a "breather in the stocks is ahead--especially if the market continues to price in dwindling rate cut odds."
Seaport Research raised the firm's price target on JPMorgan to $213 from $194 and kept a buy rating on the shares.
While the first quarter was negatively affected by additional FDIC special assessment charges and higher reserve builds in cards, improving trends across investment banking, asset management, deposits, and the forward curve should drive earnings increases in 2025, the analysts said.
Seaport said it prefers banks over capital market names, given their lower valuation multiples relative to historical averages and lower expectations embedded in their forward outlook.
Investors will likely pay attention to what JP Morgan and other banks with investment bank exposure say about initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions trends.
Deal activity fell during the 2022 bear market, weighing down corporate profitability. However, a number of deals have happened recently, including Reddit's IPO, spin-offs by General Electric and 3M, and J&J's acquisition Shockwave Medical.
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