Zions records 5th straight quarterly loss

SALT LAKE CITY — Zions Bancorp. posted a net loss for the fifth consecutive quarter, the company said Monday. But the loss was far below what Wall Street was expecting and represented a year-over-year improvement.

The company said it had a loss of $176.5 million, or $1.26 per share, during the final quarter of last year, an improvement compared with a revised net loss of $181.9 million, or $1.43 per share, in the 2009 third quarter.

The consensus industry analyst forecast for Zions was a loss of $1.64 per share, according to Yahoo Finance.

The Salt Lake-based company reported revenues for the quarter of $528.5 million, up 22.3 percent from the same period in 2008. However, revenues fell for the third straight quarter, from a high of $1.11 billion during the second quarter of last year and $748.9 million in the 2009 third quarter.

While the report showed a continued losing trend, the top executive for the company was cautiously optimistic about the current economic climate.

"Market conditions for our banking subsidiaries are starting, in many cases, to show some signs that are encouraging to us," Harris H. Simmons, chairman and chief executive officer, said during a conference call Monday afternoon. "It obviously remains a fragile recovery that we are in."

Simmons said that Zions believes last year represented "the trough" in earnings for the current credit cycle and upward movement could be on the horizon.

"We enter into 2010 feeling increasingly confident that peak levels of loan losses are behind us, and that economic conditions in the majority of our markets have begun to stabilize," he said in a prepared statement.

"While the economic, political, and regulatory environment remains in flux, our capital ratios remain significantly above regulatory benchmarks for a 'well capitalized' banking institution."

The quarterly financial report was released after stock markets closed Monday. Zions' stock price increased 26 cents to close at $17.92 Monday. The price has ranged from$5.90 to $20.97 per share during the past year.

Zions has about 500 offices in 10 Western states.

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