Truist Financial Earnings: Expenses and Revenue Both Moving in the Wrong Direction

Narrow-moat-rated Truist reported disappointing results in our view. Some trends were similar to peers, as the revenue and net interest income outlook both decreased; however, the magnitude of the decrease was worse than average. Revenue is now guided for growth of 1%-2%, down from 5%-7%. Within this, we estimate that NII is set to barely grow in 2023 compared with 2022. Expense expectations also moved in the wrong direction, inching higher, as the bank expects to come in on the high end of its previous expense range of up 5%-7%. Management spent a good portion of the call speaking about strategic expense initiatives as it attempts to improve the current expense dynamics.