Despite extreme wariness of investors concerning the banking sector’s ongoing earnings reports, Wells Fargo (WFC) raised its full-year net interest income forecast, but expects noninterest expenses to be higher than previously forecast.

The San Francisco-based bank now expects net interest income to grow about 14% in 2023 from $45 billion in 2022, compared with a previous forecast of 10%. As Wells Fargo (WFC) has previously disclosed, the company has pending litigation, regulatory and customer remediation issues that could impact its operating losses.

Bearing all that in mind, the banking giant posted surprisingly strong numbers thereby invoking a stream of institutional analysts’ upgrades.

Q2 GAAP EPS of $1.25 beat estimates by $0.09, while its revenue of $20.53 billion (+20.6% YoY) exceeded expectations by $410 million. Net interest income surged 29%, primarily thanks to the impact of higher interest rates and higher loan balances, partially offset by lower deposit balances. Q2 2023 provision for credit losses of $1.7 billion included a $949 million increase in the allowance for credit losses primarily for commercial real estate office loans, as well as for higher credit card loan balances, but not in conjunction with any mark-to-market adjustments, which means the SVB-inspired banking crisis may be more limited that many think.