No—or little—impact of tariffs on the US economy: this is undoubtedly the main lesson investors will take away from the Wall Street queen's interim results.
Revenue is down 2% and profit is down 6%. But these developments were expected, as last year's results were boosted by a one-pff gain from the sale of the group's stake in Visa.
JPMorgan continues to deploy capital and the proportion of non-performing assets remains unchanged—two clear signs that the US economy remains healthy—with loans up 10% and deposits up 7%.
Notably, the company also managed to maintain its net interest margin despite a 100-bp y-o-y decline in key interest rates.
The investment banking segment continues to perform exceptionally well in a cautious, or even difficult environment for some of its competitors, as does the wealth management segment, where profits are up by a fifth y-o-y.
Return on equity remains high at 18%, compared with 20% at the end of H1 2024. At the same time, the number of shares outstanding has been reduced by a further 3%, while tangible equity increased by 11% and the dividend by 22%.
Market capitalization rose by another 39%, with the stock now trading at a record multiple of its equity. Some see this as a sign that the bank led by Jamie Dimon is now navigating in overvalued territory.
Over the past six months, thanks to the proceeds from the sale of Visa shares, JPMorgan has bought back 60 million of its own shares at an average price of $252, compared with 43 million shares bought back in H1 2024 at an average price of $190.
As MarketScreener pointed out at the time, this decision was questionable in light of Jamie Dimon's previous comments, in which he stated bluntly that buying back shares at such high valuations made little sense.
