JPMorgan Stock Surge Puts $1 Trillion Within Reach

JPMorgan Chase is close to becoming a $1 trillion company, Reuters reported Wednesday (July 15).

The bank, which was last valued at about $919 billion, saw its shares reach a record high after a Tuesday (July 14) earnings report in which it announced the highest profit ever attainted by a U.S. bank, according to the report.

With the help of investment banking activity that is expected to remain elevated for the rest of the year, JPMorgan Chase could achieve a $1 trillion valuation, the report said.

If the bank reaches that milestone, it would be the first bank to do so, and it would have a valuation close to that of tech companies such as Tesla, Meta and Broadcom, per the report.

Currently, JPMorgan Chase’s valuation is about equal to the total valuation of the next three most valuable U.S. banks. That group includes Bank of America, valued at about $430 billion; Wells Fargo, valued at $261 billion; and Citigroup, valued at $227 billion, according to the report.

The report attributed JPMorgan Chase’s strength in part to a balance sheet that’s big enough for it to pursue both Wall Street dealmaking and Main Street lending, and a “Jamie premium” that reflects the value investors place on JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, who has delivered strong shareholder returns.

At the same time, the bank and the industry could see the currently high levels of investment banking and trading return to lower levels, per the report.

PYMNTS reported Tuesday that five big banks were tracking record-setting earnings and that JPMorgan Chase executives said during the earnings call that they were seeing spending patterns and credit performance that continued to exceed expectations.

JPMorgan Chase Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said during the call that consumer spending was “robust across income segments,” supported in part by tax refunds, while delinquencies came in “a little lower than we expected.”

Dimon said during the call that JPMorgan will continue investing in technology, products and customer experience as it competes with not only other large banking institutions but also several FinTech companies that are developing new capabilities.

PYMNTS reported Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo each exceeded analysts’ expectations in their second-quarter earnings.