JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) kicked off earnings season Tuesday with a report that showed America's largest bank doing what it does best: making money in practically every corner of finance. The bank posted net income of $13.0 billion, or $4.63 per share for the fourth quarter of 2025, down 7% year-over-year, but that decline tells only part of the story.

The adjusted earnings per share came in at $5.23, comfortably ahead of the $4.92 analyst consensus. The 60-cent gap between reported and adjusted earnings? That's mostly attributable to a $2.2 billion credit reserve JPMorgan set aside for its upcoming acquisition of the Apple (AAPL) credit card portfolio. In other words, the bank is prepping for a major expansion while still beating expectations.

Revenue Growth Across the Board

Managed net revenue hit $46.8 billion, surpassing the $46.02 billion Wall Street expected. Net interest income, excluding Markets, reached $23.9 billion, up 4% year-over-year. The growth came from higher deposit balances and increased revolving balances in Card Services, though lower interest rates did trim some gains.

Noninterest revenue outside of Markets climbed 7% year-over-year to $14.7 billion, powered by higher asset management fees in both Asset & Wealth Management and Consumer & Community Banking, plus increased auto operating lease income and stronger payments fees. And the Markets business? That jumped 17% year-over-year to $8.2 billion, showing traders had a good quarter.

The firm delivered a return on equity of 17% and a return on tangible common equity of 20% for fiscal year 2025. For the fourth quarter specifically, those metrics were 15% and 18%, respectively, reflecting solid profitability even with the Apple Card reserve build.

What Jamie Dimon Is Seeing

Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon remained characteristically confident about the bank's trajectory and the broader economy. "Each line of business performed well," Dimon said. "This year, we opened 1.7 million net new checking accounts and 10.4 million new credit card accounts, and we also grew wealth management households to over 3 million. Looking ahead, we are excited to become the new issuer of the Apple Card. Finally, in AWM, revenue rose 13% in the quarter to a record $6.5 billion. More impressively, client asset net inflows totaled $553 billion for the year, helping drive client assets to over $7 trillion."

He elaborated on the Apple Card opportunity: "Looking ahead, we remain committed to investing our capital to drive future growth, and the Apple Card is one example of patient and thoughtful deployment of our excess capital into attractive opportunities."

But Dimon's most interesting commentary centered on the economy itself. "The U.S. economy has remained resilient," he noted. "While labor markets have softened, conditions do not appear to be worsening. Meanwhile, consumers continue to spend, and businesses generally remain healthy. These conditions could persist for some time, particularly with ongoing fiscal stimulus, the benefits of deregulation and the Fed's recent monetary policy."

Fortress Balance Sheet

JPMorgan ended the quarter with cash and marketable securities totaling $1.5 trillion. Average loans increased 9% year-over-year and 3% sequentially, while average deposits rose 6% year-over-year and 2% from the previous quarter. The bank maintained a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 14.5% under the Standardized approach and 14.1% under the Advanced approach, well above regulatory minimums.

Total loss-absorbing capacity stood at $564 billion, standardized risk-weighted assets were $2.0 trillion, and the supplementary leverage ratio was 5.8%. Translation: JPMorgan has plenty of cushion to weather whatever comes next.

The provision for credit losses was $4.7 billion, with net charge-offs of $2.5 billion up $150 million, predominantly driven by Wholesale. The net reserve build was $2.1 billion, again reflecting that hefty reserve established for the Apple credit card portfolio.

Book value per share increased 9% year-over-year to $126.99, while tangible book value per share rose 11% year-over-year to $107.56.

How Each Business Performed

Consumer & Community Banking saw net income fall 19% year-over-year to $3.6 billion, though revenue grew 6% year-over-year to $19.4 billion. Card Services & Auto net revenue rose 5% year-over-year to $7.3 billion, driven by higher Card Services net interest income from increased revolving balances and higher auto operating lease income. Debit and credit card sales volume climbed 7%, and active mobile customers increased 7%.

The Commercial & Investment Bank delivered net income of $7.3 billion, up 10% year-over-year. Revenue increased 10% year-over-year to $19.4 billion, led by Markets and Securities Services, which grew 17% year-over-year to $9.7 billion. Fixed Income Markets revenue rose 7%, while Equity Markets surged 40% year-over-year. Investment Banking fees declined 5% year-over-year to $2.30 billion, though JPMorgan maintained its global No. 1 ranking with an 8.4% wallet share.

Asset & Wealth Management reported net income of $1.8 billion, up 19% year-over-year, on revenue of $6.5 billion, up 13%. Assets under management reached $4.8 trillion, an 18% year-over-year increase, while client assets totaled $7.1 trillion, up 20% year-over-year.

The firm returned $4.1 billion in common dividends, or $1.50 per share, plus $7.9 billion in share repurchases, bringing total capital returned to shareholders to $12 billion for the quarter.

Looking Ahead

JPMorgan expects fiscal 2026 net interest income of about $103 billion and net interest income excluding Markets of about $95 billion. The firm also projects a Card Services net charge-off rate near 3.4% for fiscal year 2026, suggesting management expects credit quality to remain manageable even as the portfolio expands.

JPMorgan Chase shares were up 0.29% at $325.43 during premarket trading Tuesday, approaching their 52-week high of $337.25. For a bank navigating Apple Card integration, potential regulatory changes, and an uncertain economic backdrop, that's a vote of confidence from investors who see JPMorgan continuing to execute.