[R]1:00PM New York - Bank of America Corporation (BAC: chart) net earnings fall 95%; the company provides pale outlook.[/R]

Revenue Review

Bank of America reported Tuesday fourth quarter revenue fell 31% to $12.67 billion from $18.48 billion in the year ago period, as the housing problems bite deeper.

For fiscal 2007, revenues declined 8.6% to $66.31 billion compared with $72.58 billion in 2006.

Earnings Review

Bank of America said that fourth quarter net income plunged 95% to $268 million from $5.3 billion a year earlier. The results include numbers from LaSalle Bank, purchased on October 1.

Earnings declined because of a $5.44 billion loss on the bank’s trading account, compared with a profit of $460 million a year earlier, said the company.

The loss was linked to writedowns of collateralised debt obligations plus an increase in provision expense to $1.74 billion.

The writedowns reduced trading profits by about $4.50 billion and other income by nearly $750 million. In November, the company estimated CDO linked losses at $3 billion.

BAC incurred losses of $400 million that were in “support of certain cash funds” and also had subsequent writedowns of about $400 million related to securities originally purchased from the funds at fair value.

For the quarter, net interest income on a fully taxable-equivalent basis rose 10% to $9.81 billion from $8.96 billion previously. Non-interest income declined 65% to $3.51 billion from $9.89 billion.

Net income for the year fell 29% to $14.98 billion from $21.13 billion from a year earlier.

Earnings Per Share Review

In the quarter, BAC said earnings dropped 95.7% to 5 cents per share from $1.16 per share posted in the comparative period in 2006. This was below expectations.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for earnings of 18 cents per share in the quarter, and revenues of $13.24 billion.

For fiscal 2007, per share earnings declined 28% to $3.30 from $4.59 in 2006.

Segment Analysis

Total assets under management in Global Wealth and Investment Management increased to over $643 billion during the quarter, including the impact of the U.S. Trust purchase and the sale of Marsico Capital Management.

In December, Bank of America completed the sale of Marsico, which resulted in a $61 billion net decrease in assets under management.

Net revenue for Global Consumer and Small Business Banking gained 7% to $12.51 billion while net income fell 28% to $1.87 billion.