Ally Financial tops fourth quarter profit forecasts

DETROIT (AP) - Ally Financial Inc. (ALLY) last Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $177 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier. On a per-share basis, the Detroit-based company said it had net income of 23 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 40 cents per share. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 39 cents per share. The auto finance company and bank posted revenue of $1.01 billion in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Analysts expected $1.25 billion, according to Zacks. Ally Financial shares have dropped 12 percent since the beginning of the year. -------- This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ALLY at http://www.zacks.com/ap/ALLY Published: Mon, Feb 02, 2015