HispanicBusiness

Bank of America Corp. reported Wednesday losing $33 million for shareholders in the third quarter, its first loss since the middle of last year but significantly better than what had been predicted.

The tiny loss equates to 0 cents per share. Overall net income, calculated before paying preferred stockholders, was a $340 million profit. In the same time period last year, the bank earned $5.9 billion for shareholders, or 58 cents per share.

Analysts had estimated the Charlotte bank would lose money in the third quarter after Bank of America announced last month it would settle its long-running shareholder lawsuit stemming from its acquisition of Merrill Lynch for $2.43 billion.

If approved by the court, the settlement would resolve claims that bank executives hid mounting losses at the investment bank during the 2008 financial crisis from shareholders voting on the deal.

In last month's announcement, Bank of America also said it would take about $1.9 billion in accounting losses tied to the value of the bank's debt. Essentially, when a bank's financial position improves, its debt becomes more valuable on the open market, thus increasing its liabilities.

Bank of America also disclosed last month it would lose $800 million because of changes in the United Kingdom tax rate.

Taking out those items, however, Bank of America came out better than the analyst consensus estimate of 15 cents per share.

Bank executives will hold a conference call with analysts at 8:30 a.m.