James Dimon: “No. I think the issuance number is fairly level and consistent quarter-by-quarter. It’s really based upon amortization of restricted stock and all that. And the buyback, the $2.6 billion that was over the course of the quarter, so it averaged out — half of that to the quarter. So we’ll give you more detail on that a little bit later, John.”
John McDonald: “Okay, but it’s steady throughout the year?”
James Dimon: “The $6 billion will offset how much average amortization we have over the same 12-month period.”
In case you didn’t follow, there are two things to note, here. First, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)’s CFO and CEO were not on the same page about the impact of share repurchases on outstanding share count throughout the year. Lake believed they were weighted more heavily in the first quarter. Dimon corrected her by saying they’re “fairly level and consistent quarter by quarter.”
And the second thing is, while buybacks are pitched as a great way to return capital to shareholders, they’re more often only used to allocate capital to executives. You do the math.
3. Dimon snubs Mayo again
Ok, I know this is probably better suited for People magazine, but it’s nevertheless worth pointing out. At JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)‘s investor day last month, Dimon notoriously (and inappropriately, I might add) responded to a question from CLSA analyst Mike Mayo about the bank’s capital levels. Well, it seems clear that Dimon is done talking to Mayo for the time being.
After and long back and forth between Mayo and Lake, Mayo asks Dimon about a passage from the recently released chairman’s letter.
Michael Mayo: “Okay. And then a separate question, looking at annual report, Page 4 of the Chairman’s letter said, refers to regulation and some of the issues that you faced and said, ‘We will see more of these…’ So when you say we will see more of these, Jamie, what are you talking about because people’s imaginations can go in a lot of different directions? Are we talking Department of Justice, SEC…? Were you thinking anything in particular, general or timeframe? And really, what I’m asking you to address is the regulatory tail risk of we don’t know what we don’t know in terms of potential government moves as is relates to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)?”
Marianne Lake: “So, Mike, sorry, so we’re in constant dialogue with the regulators, and so we know that we should be expecting some more consent orders. But to clarify for you, they relate to issues that we’ve been working on over the course of the last several years. So these are not new breaking issues that will surprise you in any material way.”
Just so we’re all on the same page, here, this is a question that would have traditionally been fielded by Dimon and should have been fielded by him this time, as regulatory tail risk, as Mayo calls it, is probably the single-most important unknown among investors and analysts today. As a result, Dimon’s refusal to answer the question should be viewed skeptically, to put it mildly.
The article 3 Key Quotes From JPMorgan’s Conference Call originally appeared on Fool.com is written by John Maxfield .
John Maxfield has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of JPMorgan Chase.
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