Record earnings year for Bear Stearns.

Financial News, March, 2003

Bear Stearns, has continued to benefit from sales of mortgage bonds, which helped it report record full-year earnings last year, and lifted first-quarter net income 52% to a record $2 ([euro]1.8) a share.Bear Stearns was well ahead of average analyst estimates of $1.35 a share, according to Thomson First Call. However, the stock was up just 30 cents at $64.80 at lunchtime.

Bear Stearns, the sixth-largest US securities firm by capital, was the largest seller of collateralised mortgage obligations in the first quarter thanks to a refinancing boom supported by interest rates that are at the lowest level in 45 years.