Wells Fargo & Company
Orin's own judgment of how firmly the evidence points one way — not the chance the price goes up.
Wells Fargo delivered a Q3 2026 EPS beat ($1.87 vs. $1.85 estimate) for the quarter ended 30 Sep, with Reuters reporting profit growth driven by robust loan growth and interest income, but revenue fell 31.5% YoY to $21.87B — a sharp top-line decline that contrasts with the $20.73B operating income and raises questions about one-time or reclassification effects.
The stock trades at a discount to peers (P/E 11.88 vs. peer median 12.27; EV/EBITDA 14.50 vs. median 16.81) and smart money sentiment improved to a positive 0.034 score as of 30 Jun, yet FY2025 operating cash flow was deeply negative at -$19.0B with total debt at $425.7B, and the shares at $83.32 sit below both the 50-day ($85.69) and 200-day ($84.42) moving averages as of 12 Oct. The combination of attractive relative valuation and improving earnings momentum against balance-sheet and technical headwinds keeps the risk/reward balanced.
What could go wrong
- Revenue quality. Q3 2026 revenue fell 31.5% YoY to $21.87B while operating income was $20.73B, an implausibly high margin that suggests non-recurring items or accounting-driven distortions in the top line.
- Balance sheet stress. FY2025 operating cash flow was -$19.0B and total debt rose to $425.7B from $281.9B in FY2024, signaling potential funding or balance-sheet pressures.
- Technical weakness. Stock at $83.32 trades below both the 50-day MA of $85.69 and 200-day MA of $84.42 as of 12 Oct, with RSI at 48.9 indicating no momentum support.
- Insider selling. Over the trailing 24 months, insider net activity was -115,000 shares (-$10.05M), with no open-market acquisitions among 292 transactions.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: earnings vs estimates and results, quarter to 30 Sep · results, quarter to 30 Sep · peer comparison, 12 Oct · FY25 fundamentals. Orin's read on WFC; not advice.
How has the share price moved?
Down 5.0% over twelve months, from $87.01 on 27 Oct 2025 to $82.66 at the Tue 27 Oct 2026 close. Its highest close in that time was $96.39 on 6 Jan 2026; the last close is 14.2% below it.
- Green line: the closing price each trading day.
- Grey line: the average closing price over the last 50 trading days.
- Dashed amber line: the same over the last 200 trading days — a slower, smoother line.
- Bars along the bottom: shares traded each day — green when it closed higher than the day before, rose when lower (the most, 40.5M, on 20 Mar 2026).
- Flags: the company's filings, on the day they were made (a 10-Q is the quarterly report and a 10-K the annual report; an 8-K reports a major event).
On file
All WFC filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock | $20.7B | 0.3% |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $16.5B | 0.4% |
| FMR | $12.6B | 0.5% |
| State Street | $11.2B | 0.3% |
| JPMorgan Chase | $9.5B | 0.5% |
| Capital Research Global Investors | $6.3B | 0.9% |
| Geode Capital Management | $6.1B | 0.3% |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $5.1B | 0.2% |
| Norges Bank | $4.6B | 0.5% |
| Morgan Stanley | $4.4B | 0.2% |
163 of the 815 filers we track · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 292 Form 4 filings; open-market trades net −$10.1M. Of the 50 on hand, none was an open-market trade — the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about WFC
Orin answers questions about WFC from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →How is it priced, against its own past and its sector?
Priced at 11.5× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close) — higher than in 2 of its last 5 fiscal years (middle 12.9×); the typical Financial Services company on the NYSE is at 17.6×.
| Measure | Now | Its usual | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 11.5×below usual | 12.9× | 17.6× |
| P/S | 1.90×near usual | 1.92× | — |
| P/B | 1.4×above usual | 1.0× | — |
- P/S: for a bank, sales here are gross revenue — interest income plus non-interest revenue, before the interest it pays — so its P/S reads lower than it would on the net revenue in its filings.
- EV/EBITDA: not used for a lender — the debt in its enterprise value is mostly the deposits it lends out.
- "Its usual" is the middle of its own last 5 fiscal years.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
P/S: the company's total market value divided by one year of revenue. Used when there is no profit to measure.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
P/B: the share price divided by the book value per share — what the company owns minus what it owes, as its accounts record it. When book value is tiny, P/B swings wildly and says little.
What do the analysts who cover it publish?
The analysts' average 12-month price target is $97.14 (from $92 to $104) — 18% above the Tue 27 Oct close price. That is their published opinion, not Orin's.
$97.14
$92 – $104 · +18% against the last close
- 11 buy or overweight
- 6 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
Price target: the share price an analyst publishes for about 12 months ahead. It is the opinion of the firm that wrote it; the average is across the firms that cover the company.
Overweight / underweight: analysts' rating words: overweight means the firm expects the stock to do better than the others it covers, underweight worse. Their words, not Orin's.
How is it priced next to the companies it is compared to?
Priced at 11.5× its last 12 months of profit; the middle P/E of the 10 companies it is compared to that made a profit is 12.1×.
| Company | Market value | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WFCWells Fargo & Company | $248B | 11.5× | n/a | n/a | 17.6% | 13% |
| BACBank of America Corporation | $351B | 11.9× | n/a | n/a | 16.5% | 11% |
| CCitigroup Inc. | $206B | 11.8× | n/a | n/a | 12.5% | 9% |
| COFCapital One Financial Corporation | $125B | 12.0× | n/a | n/a | 13.7% | 10% |
| FITBFifth Third Bancorp | $49B | 18.1× | n/a | n/a | 15.9% | 8% |
| HBANHuntington Bancshares Incorporated | $32B | 12.2× | n/a | n/a | 16.3% | 8% |
| JPMJPMorgan Chase & Co. | $893B | 14.1× | n/a | n/a | 21.9% | 18% |
| KEYKeyCorp | $23B | 11.6× | n/a | n/a | 20.1% | 11% |
| PNCThe PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. | $91B | 12.1× | n/a | n/a | 22.1% | 13% |
| TFCTruist Financial Corporation | $59B | 12.4× | n/a | n/a | 18.0% | 8% |
| USBU.S. Bancorp | $93B | 11.6× | n/a | n/a | 19.0% | 13% |
- WFC, BAC, C, COF, FITB, HBAN, JPM, KEY, PNC, TFC, USB: gross margin is not used (n/a) for a bank, an insurer or a property trust — what it sells is money or space, not goods.
- WFC, BAC, C, COF, FITB, HBAN, JPM, KEY, PNC, TFC, USB: EV/EBITDA is not used (n/a) for a lender — the debt in its enterprise value is mostly the deposits it lends out.
- The list of companies is the data vendor's choice, so it can include a company a person would not have picked.
Market value: the share price times the number of shares — what the whole company is priced at.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
Gross margin: the share of each $1 of sales left after the direct cost of making what was sold.
Net margin: the share of each $1 of sales kept as profit after every cost. Below zero, the company lost money.
ROE: return on equity: one year of profit as a share of the shareholders' money in the business (its book value).
Is it priced high or low compared with its own past?
Priced at 11.5× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close). It has no full fiscal year on file since its history starts, so there is nothing of its own to compare with.
- Now11.5×
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
Fiscal year (FY): the company's own 12-month accounting year, which need not match the calendar year.
How has its sector been priced?
Financial Services companies on the NYSE were priced at a typical 17.6× their yearly profit (Tue 27 Oct close).
- Now17.6×
- Each year is the middle of that calendar year's daily sector P/E; "Now" is the Tue 27 Oct close figure, the same one in the table above.
Sector P/E: the middle P/E of the companies in the same sector on the same stock exchange, as the data vendor works it out each day.
What does a cash-flow model say a share is worth?
A cash-flow model is not built for a bank or an insurer — its cash moves with deposits, loans and claims — so none is shown.
Discounted cash flow: a model's estimate of what the company is worth today, from the cash it is forecast to make in future years. Small changes in the forecast move it a lot, and it says little about a company that loses money.