JPMorgan Q3 2026 Earnings:EPS Miss, Higher NII Outlook, 84% Buyback Cut

JPMorgan Chase ($JPM) reported third-quarter 2026 results before the market opened on Tuesday, October 13, and the headline numbers pulled in different directions. Earnings per share, excluding one significant item, came in at $5.75 against a consensus estimate of $5.92, a 2.85% shortfall. Managed revenue of $50.9 billion also landed below analysts' consensus. At the same time, the bank raised its full-year 2026 net interest income outlook to approximately $106.2 billion from approximately $105.5 billion in July, and it cut share repurchases by 84% from the second quarter.

Net interest income is the money a bank earns on loans and securities minus what it pays on deposits and other funding, which is why it moves with how interest rates work. It is a major driver of a bank's profit, so a higher outlook for it matters even in a quarter that missed on earnings per share. The share repurchase cut matters for a different reason: buybacks shrink the number of shares outstanding and have been one of the ways per-share earnings grow.

The stock rose as high as $344.36 on October 13, then reversed and closed at $331.43, down 0.86% from $334.30. The quarter itself combined a miss, a higher outlook and a sharp change in how the bank uses its capital.

The Quarter in One Table: Results Against Consensus

The first thing most readers look for is whether a company beat or missed. Consensus is the average of analysts' forecasts, and different data compilers build it on different bases, so the comparison below keeps each estimate and each revenue basis separate rather than blending them. For a primer on reading these comparisons, see how to analyze earnings reports.

Two revenue figures appear because banks report revenue on two bases. Reported revenue is the U.S. GAAP figure. Managed revenue restates income from tax-exempt securities and tax-credit investments on a fully taxable-equivalent basis, so it is comparable with taxable income. One consensus compares against managed revenue of $50.9 billion; a second, widely cited forecast compares reported revenue of $50.17 billion with $51.23 billion. That is why the shortfall reads as 1.44% in one place and 2.07% in the other.

Reported diluted EPS was $5.57. The difference from $5.75 is a single significant item: $658 million of net investment securities losses in the Corporate segment, or $498 million after tax and $0.18 per share. Excluding that item, net income was $15.8 billion and return on tangible common equity (ROTCE, profit as a share of shareholders' equity after removing goodwill and other intangibles) was 21%. Reported ROTCE was 20%.

The First EPS Shortfall in Six Quarters

The table below covers six quarters, from Q2 2025 to Q3 2026. In the five before this one, JPMorgan's actual EPS came in above consensus every time, so Q3 2026 is the first EPS shortfall against consensus in six quarters.

Actual EPS in the table is shown excluding significant items, as the company presents it, which is why the Q2 2026 figure is $6.14 and not the reported $7.70.

Past performance does not guarantee future results, and six data points are a small sample. The beats ranged from 3.48% to 9.57%, and the Q3 shortfall of 2.85% is smaller in size than every one of those beats.

Compared with a year earlier, the quarter looks stronger. Net income was $15,305 million, up 6% from $14,393 million, and reported diluted EPS rose 10% from $5.07 to $5.57. Managed revenue grew 8% to $50,907 million.

Expenses grew faster than revenue, though. Noninterest expense rose 12% to $27,295 million, which left pre-provision profit (revenue minus expenses, before setting money aside for credit losses) at $23,612 million, up only 3%.

JPMorgan cited higher compensation, including revenue-related pay and more front-office employees, plus higher brokerage, distribution, marketing and technology costs.

Why Comparing Q3 With Q2 Misleads

On paper, net income fell 28% from the second quarter, from $21,155 million to $15,305 million. Diluted EPS fell from $7.70 to $5.57. A reader who stops there could conclude the business deteriorated sharply in three months.

That comparison rests largely on two one-time items. Q2 2026 included a $4.6 billion net gain in Corporate related to Visa Class C common stock that JPMorgan received in an exchange offer accepted by Visa on May 11, 2026. The same quarter also included $1.0 billion of gains on certain equity investments recorded in Corporate and in the Commercial & Investment Bank.

Q3 then carried the opposite: $658 million of securities losses in Corporate. A quarter with a large one-time gain followed by a quarter with a one-time loss will always look weak when set side by side. The year-over-year comparison, which sets Q3 2026 against Q3 2025, is the cleaner one, and it shows net income up 6% and EPS up 10%.

The 2026 Outlook Path and the Expense Arithmetic

JPMorgan gives investors an outlook for several full-year line items at each quarterly earnings presentation. The table shows how those figures moved across the four presentations of 2026. All are JPMorgan's own projections, labeled by the company as market dependent, meaning they change if interest rates, deposit balances or market activity differ from what the bank assumed. They are not forecasts by Money365.Market, and actual results may differ.

Two terms need a definition. "NII excluding Markets" strips out the net interest income generated by the trading businesses, which tends to swing with market activity, leaving the part tied to lending and deposits. "Adjusted expense" excludes firmwide legal expense. A net charge-off is a loan the bank has written off as uncollectible, net of any later recoveries.

The arithmetic is simple enough to check. Since January, the net interest income outlook rose by about $3.2 billion (from $103 billion to $106.2 billion), and the adjusted expense outlook rose by about $3.6 billion (from $105 billion to $108.6 billion). Expenses were guided up by slightly more than net interest income.

In July, JPMorgan attributed the expense increase "primarily" to "higher volume- and revenue-related expenses driven by the activity levels and associated revenue outperformance." In other words, the company tied the higher expense outlook to higher business activity.

The October column is year-to-date results plus the fourth-quarter outlook:

In the third quarter itself, managed net interest income was $27,145 million, up 13%. NII excluding Markets was $24,726 million, up 6% from a year earlier and 4% from the second quarter, which JPMorgan attributed to higher deposit balances, higher Card Services balances and higher wholesale loan balances, partly offset by lower rates. Markets net interest income was $2,419 million, compared with $680 million a year ago.

JPMorgan also publishes an earnings-at-risk estimate, which models how its net interest income would change if rates moved instantly and in parallel. At the end of September it showed a gain of about $1.4 billion for a 100-basis-point rise in rates (down from $1.8 billion at June 30) and a decline of about $2.2 billion for a 100-basis-point fall (versus $2.4 billion at June 30).

In short, JPMorgan's net interest income outlook and its adjusted expense outlook both rose during 2026, and the expense outlook rose by slightly more in dollars.

Buybacks, Loan Growth and the CET1 Ratio

A share repurchase, or buyback, is when a company uses cash to buy its own stock from shareholders, which reduces the share count. JPMorgan's gross repurchases were $1,057 million in the third quarter, covering 3.1 million shares.

That compares with $6,703 million (21.7 million shares) in Q2 2026 and $8,315 million (28.0 million shares) in Q3 2025. The cut is 84% from the previous quarter and 87% from a year earlier.

After employee share issuance, net repurchases were $664 million. Over nine months, repurchases totaled $16,088 million versus $23,378 million a year earlier, down 31%.

Over the same period, lending expanded. Period-end loans were $1,584.6 billion, up 10% year over year and 3% from June 30. Wholesale loans, which are loans to businesses and institutions, were $938.8 billion, up 16% year over year and up $38.0 billion (4%) from the end of June.

CET1 stands for Common Equity Tier 1, the core capital ratio regulators use to judge how much loss-absorbing equity a bank holds relative to its risk-weighted assets. A lower ratio means a thinner cushion. It was 13.9% at the end of September, compared with 14.2% at June 30 and 14.8% a year earlier.

Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, said: "Our capital hierarchy has remained consistent over time, with investing in the franchise and supporting our clients at the top. In line with our hierarchy, we reduced share repurchases this quarter. We believe we can deploy this capital over time at very attractive returns for our shareholders."

On the call, Dimon said "the positive news is the main reason the buyback is down." He also said "we believe now, which is different than we told you in the past, that we can redeploy that capital at very good returns over time."

Dimon compared redeployment with repurchases at roughly a 6% earnings yield, using the phrase "than buying stock at a 6% or whatever the earnings yield would be if you bought it today." Earnings yield is annual earnings per share divided by the share price, the mirror image of the price-to-earnings ratio. The 6% was Dimon's illustration of the bank's capital choice, not a valuation estimate.

Dimon also said "We really like investing in organic growth." Jeremy Barnum, Chief Financial Officer, said that, given how quickly the bank has been deploying capital organically, keeping excess capital in reserve made sense.

Two Ways to Read the Same Numbers

The numbers support two readings, and they are not mutually exclusive.

Reading one. A bank that sees enough loan demand to absorb capital is choosing growth over shrinking its share count. Wholesale loans grew $38.0 billion in a single quarter, and Dimon described the reason for the lower buyback as positive news. On this reading, the repurchase cut is a sign of demand for the bank's balance sheet, and the capital is working in the business.

Reading two. Buybacks have been a large part of per-share growth. JPMorgan's diluted share count was 2,683.0 million versus 2,767.6 million a year earlier, a 3.1% reduction. A smaller buyback removes part of that tailwind, and it happens while the CET1 ratio is already falling. On this reading, per-share earnings would rely more heavily on the business itself.

Which reading proves closer to the truth depends on the returns JPMorgan earns on the capital it deploys, something the reported results cannot yet show.

JPMorgan declared a dividend of $1.65 per share during the quarter, up from $1.50 in each of the four prior quarters and 10% above both Q2 2026 and Q3 2025. No further increase was announced on October 13. Dividends declared totaled $4,433 million. On the dividend, Dimon used the phrase "which hopefully will be steady."

Segment Results: Where the Revenue Came From

JPMorgan reports four segments. Each ran differently in the third quarter, and the table gives the main figures on a managed basis.

Consumer & Community Banking

Consumer & Community Banking, which serves households and small businesses, earned $5,670 million. Within revenue, Banking & Wealth Management contributed $11,673 million (+6%), Home Lending $1,217 million (−3%) and Card Services & Auto $8,281 million (+15%). Expenses rose 12% to $11,580 million, and the segment's return on equity was 36%. Dimon cited more than 650,000 net new checking accounts; debit and credit card sales volume rose 10%.

Commercial & Investment Bank

The Commercial & Investment Bank earned $8,247 million on revenue of $22,734 million. Investment banking fees were $3.0 billion, up 14% from a year earlier but down 8% from the second quarter. JPMorgan said it ranked first in global investment banking fees, with 9.2% wallet share year to date. Payments revenue was $5.6 billion (+14%), Lending $2.2 billion (+20%) and Securities Services $1.6 billion (+14%).

Markets revenue, the trading business, was $10,320 million, up 15% from a year earlier but down 15% from $12,078 million in Q2 and below Q1's $11,559 million. Inside it, the two halves moved in opposite directions. Fixed Income Markets revenue was $5.4 billion, down 4%. Equity Markets revenue was $5.0 billion, up 49%, which JPMorgan attributed particularly to Prime (services for hedge funds and other large trading clients) and Derivatives.

Dimon said: "Markets revenue and IB fees each rose at a mid-teens rate, helped by strong levels of client activity, although activity did moderate somewhat during the quarter." On the call he said the pipeline was fine but that "the pipeline is like an accordion," able to open and close quickly.

Asset & Wealth Management and Corporate

Asset & Wealth Management earned $1,843 million on revenue of $6,909 million, with a return on equity of 45%. Assets under management reached $5.2 trillion (+13%) and client assets $7.9 trillion (+15%), and Dimon cited $263 billion of client asset net inflows.

Corporate recorded a net loss of $455 million, and its revenue fell to $93 million from $1,703 million a year earlier. Its net interest income was $669 million, down $737 million from a year earlier, which JPMorgan described as predominantly driven by the impact of lower rates. The segment also carried the $658 million of securities losses.

Credit: Charge-Offs, Reserves and the Card Book

The provision for credit losses was $2,743 million, down 19% from $3,403 million a year ago. It has two parts. Net charge-offs were $2.2 billion, down $389 million from a year earlier, driven by the Wholesale side.

The other part was a $539 million net reserve build. A reserve build is money the bank sets aside now against loans that could go bad later, so it reduces current profit without a loan having failed yet. Most of the build was in the wholesale book: $452 million in the Commercial & Investment Bank, against $50 million in Consumer & Community Banking.

The Card Services net charge-off rate was 2.91%, compared with 3.34% in Q2 2026 and 3.15% in Q3 2025. On the full-year outlook, Barnum said, "Finally, we continue to expect the card net charge-off rate to be approximately 3.2%." Barnum described the consumer as currently very healthy, "primarily because of a healthy labor market."

On the economy, Dimon said: "The U.S. economy continued to be fueled by strong business investment and ongoing consumer spending. However, large fiscal deficits, sticky inflation, elevated asset prices, rising interest rates and geopolitical conditions continue to shift under the surface. These forces may be manageable, but we remain prepared for a wide range of outcomes."

The Preliminary 2027 Central Case

JPMorgan's presentation included a preliminary analysis of 2027. Its central case is approximately $107 billion of net interest income excluding Markets, about 10% above the roughly $97.2 billion implied for 2026. Barnum said the central case "is based on a series of assumptions that are obviously highly uncertain."

That caution matters: the figure depends on assumptions about rates, deposits and loan growth that JPMorgan itself called uncertain, and it is a company projection rather than a result.

On 2027 expenses, Barnum noted that analyst consensus was around $114 billion and said the bank's preliminary read was not far from it. JPMorgan gave no 2027 expense figure of its own, so the two sides of 2027 cannot yet be compared from company numbers. During 2026 the expense outlook rose $3.6 billion against a $3.2 billion rise for net interest income, one comparison readers can make when a 2027 expense outlook appears.

How the Stock Traded on October 13

JPMorgan's previous close, on October 12, was $334.30. In premarket trading, the stock was quoted 1.21% higher at $338.35. In the regular session the stock opened at $339.97, 1.70% above the previous close, and reached a high of $344.36, 3.01% above it. It then closed at $331.43, down 0.86%, which was $8.54 below the opening price and close to the session low of $331.17. Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs also reported results on October 13.

From the December 31, 2025 close of $322.22, the stock is up 2.86% for the year. Against the September 30 quarter-end close of $330.83, it is up 0.18%, and market capitalization at September 30 was $878.6 billion. A single day's move reflects many forces at once, and past price moves do not indicate future returns.

What to Watch Next Quarter

The disclosures in this quarter's results point to several items that can be checked against the next report. They are things the company has put on the record, not predictions. Each line below gives the marker from this quarter to compare with the next release.

• The outlook lines. Marker: a fourth-quarter outlook of about $28 billion for total net interest income and about $27.5 billion for adjusted expense. The next release will show how the actual figures compare.
• Repurchases and capital. Marker: gross repurchases of $1,057 million and an estimated CET1 ratio of 13.9%. The next supplement will show whether repurchases held at that level and where the ratio stands.
• Loans. Marker: wholesale loans of $938.8 billion, up $38.0 billion in the quarter. The next release will show whether wholesale loans keep growing at that pace.
• Expenses against revenue. Marker: revenue up 8% against expenses up 12%. The next release will show whether that gap persists.
• Markets and investment banking. Marker: Equity Markets revenue up 49%, Fixed Income Markets down 4% and investment banking fees down 8% from Q2. The next release will show the direction of each line.
• Card credit. Marker: a Card Services net charge-off rate of 2.91% against a full-year outlook of approximately 3.2%. The next release will show where the rate lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did JPMorgan beat or miss earnings in Q3 2026?

It missed. EPS excluding one significant item was $5.75 against a consensus estimate of $5.92, a 2.85% shortfall, while a second widely cited forecast put EPS at $5.93. It was the first EPS shortfall against consensus in six quarters.

Why did JPMorgan cut its share buybacks?

Gross repurchases fell 84% from the second quarter to $1,057 million. Dimon pointed to the bank's capital hierarchy, with investing in the franchise and supporting clients at the top, and said the bank could redeploy the capital at very good returns over time. Loans rose 10% year over year in the same period.

What is JPMorgan's net interest income outlook for 2026?

JPMorgan's outlook calls for approximately $106.2 billion, up from approximately $105.5 billion in July and approximately $103 billion in January. The company labels these figures as market dependent.

Why did JPMorgan's net income fall from the second quarter?

Net income fell 28% to $15,305 million largely because Q2 included a $4.6 billion Visa-related gain and $1.0 billion of equity investment gains. Q3 included $658 million of securities losses. Versus Q3 2025, net income rose 6%.

Did JPMorgan raise its dividend in October 2026?

No further increase was announced on October 13. The $1.65 per share declared during the third quarter is up from $1.50 in each of the four prior quarters, 10% above Q2 2026 and Q3 2025. On the call, Dimon used the phrase "which hopefully will be steady."