So, HSBC HSBC Holdings, Plc. (HSBC) had a pretty good Wednesday. The stock popped nearly 5% in premarket trading, cruising to a fresh 52-week high. The trigger? The global banking giant dropped its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings report, and investors seemed to like what they saw, even if the picture wasn't perfectly pristine.
Let's break it down. On the top line, revenue came in at $16.4 billion. That's a hefty 42% jump compared to the same period last year, which is nothing to sneeze at. The growth was fueled by its core banking net interest income and higher fees from its wealth management business. But here's the catch: Wall Street analysts were expecting even more—about $17.1 billion. So, it's a strong number that still managed to disappoint the consensus.
If you strip out some notable items and look at it on a constant currency basis, the revenue story looks a bit cleaner, with a 6% year-over-year increase to $17.7 billion.
Where HSBC really delivered was on the bottom line. Adjusted earnings per share landed at 37 cents, comfortably beating the analyst estimate of 32 cents. That's the kind of beat that gets a stock moving. Other financial vitals looked healthy, too: banking net interest income rose 5.4% to $11.7 billion, customer loans stood at $988 billion, and deposits were a massive $1.79 trillion. The bank's key capital cushion, the CET1 ratio, was a robust 14.9%. Also, the money set aside for potential bad loans, known as expected credit losses (ECL), fell to $900 million.
Group CEO Georges Elhedery framed the year positively, stating, "2025 marked a year of decisive action and swift execution. We are performing, transforming and investing for growth as demand for globally-connected financial services increases, especially in the world's fastest-growing regions."
Looking ahead, the bank laid out some specific targets that suggest management is confident about the path forward. For fiscal 2026, it expects banking net interest income of at least $45 billion. It sees its expected credit loss charges settling around 40 basis points of average loans. The CET1 capital ratio is projected to be in the medium-term target range of 14% to 14.5%.
Perhaps most notably, HSBC is targeting a return on tangible equity (RoTE) of 17% or better for 2026, 2027, and 2028, excluding notable items. It also anticipates year-over-year revenue growth from 2026 through 2028, aiming for 5% growth in 2028 compared to 2027, again on a constant currency basis and excluding notable items. In short, the message is one of disciplined, targeted growth.
By the numbers, HSBC shares were up 4.69% at $92.00 in that premarket session, officially trading at a new 52-week high.
