Bernanke will be delivering a key economic presentation at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana on March 23, 2015. It is open to the public and free of charge.
Thus, as a backdrop for this upcoming speech and continuing a much deserved tribute to Bernanke's key role in helping the US avoid a Deep, Prolonged Financial Depression, I think it would be helpful to update just what has been going on with the largest State of California Financial Companies Audited Earnings since the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown.
From a very thorough review of SEC filings and Google's excellent financial website, I found as best I could 61 Finance, REITs and Financial Technology Companies headquartered in California with Stock Market Capitalizations now of at least $1 bil, or for non-publicly-traded Companies Net Assets of at least $1 bil, and which have filed audited financial statements with the SEC with financial information disclosures for all years they were operating from 2008 through 2014.
So just how have these 61 largest California Finance Companies done on the audited earnings front since the 2008 financial meltdown? Just an off-the-charts spectacularly.
The Total Audited Net Income from Continuing Operations of these 61 largest California Finance Companies was $48 bil in their Most Recent fiscal Years Ending in 2014, an increase of a phenomenally off-the-charts 198,875% over the $24 mil earned by these same 61 companies in their 2008 fiscal year ends which included the US financial meltdown.
So if the question to answer is how much better off are the largest California Finance Companies now than they were during their financial meltdown fiscal years, the answer is nearly 2,000 times better as audited earnings under US generally accepted accounting principles (US GAAP) are measured by the very prestigious US accounting profession.
There has been something spectacular happening with California Finance Companies Earnings in the past 6 years and economic actions by former US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke played a very pivotal role here.
It should be pointed out that eBay's 2014 Audited Earnings were burdened by a $3 bil income tax charge related to prior year foreign earnings no longer considered indefinitely reinvested there.
Below here are the US GAAP Audited Net Income (Losses) of each of these 61 largest California Finance Companies for all of their fiscal years from 207 through 2014:
| 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | |||
| Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | Audited | |||
| Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | Net | |||
| California | City | 2014 | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income | Income |
| Financial Companies | HQs | FYE | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) | (Loss) |
| mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | mil $s | |||
| Wells Fargo | San Francisco | Dec | 23,608 | 22,224 | 19,368 | 16,211 | 12,663 | 12,667 | 2,698 | 8,265 |
| Visa | San Francisco | Sep | 5,438 | 4,980 | 2,142 | 3,646 | 2,964 | 2,352 | 804 | (1,071) |
| Franklin Resources | San Mateo | Sep | 2,412 | 2,171 | 1,916 | 1,821 | 1,451 | 904 | 1,588 | 1,773 |
| Oaktree Capital Group | Los Angeles | Dec | 2,176 | 6,211 | 6,672 | (309) | 5,281 | 11,874 | (7,638) | 931 |
| Macerich | Santa Monica | Dec | 1,607 | 159 | 303 | 209 | 32 | 181 | 97 | 82 |
| Charles Schwab | San Francisco | Dec | 1,321 | 1,071 | 928 | 864 | 454 | 787 | 1,230 | 1,120 |
| Public Storage | Glendale | Dec | 1,150 | 1,057 | 930 | 834 | 689 | 797 | 982 | 488 |
| HCP Inc | Long Beach | Dec | 907 | 911 | 801 | 550 | 321 | 103 | 231 | 136 |
| Intuit | Mountain View | Jul | 861 | 823 | 764 | 634 | 539 | 447 | 447 | 439 |
| Toyota Motor Credit Corp | Torrance | Mar | 857 | 1,331 | 1,486 | 1,853 | 1,063 | (623) | (223) | 434 |
| Prologis | San Francisco | Dec | 739 | 230 | (106) | (245) | (1,589) | (355) | (367) | 841 |
| Ares Management LP | Los Angeles | Dec | 546 | 813 | 1,236 | 923 | 2,081 | - | - | - |
| CBRE Group | Los Angeles | Dec | 514 | 322 | 304 | 240 | 142 | (28) | (1,076) | 400 |
| First Republic Bank | San Francisco | Dec | 487 | 462 | 401 | 354 | 272 | 347 | 10 | 14 |
| SVB Financial Group | Santa Clara | Dec | 479 | 546 | 250 | 283 | 137 | 11 | 55 | 149 |
| East West Bancorp | Pasadena | Dec | 342 | 295 | 282 | 245 | 165 | 82 | (50) | 161 |
| Robert Half Intl | Menlo Park | Dec | 305 | 252 | 210 | 150 | 55 | 37 | 250 | 296 |
| Realty Income | Escondido | Dec | 269 | 181 | 142 | 151 | 121 | 119 | 108 | 120 |
| City National | Los Angeles | Dec | 259 | 233 | 209 | 176 | 135 | 52 | 110 | 232 |
| Air Lease | Los Angeles | Dec | 256 | 190 | 132 | 53 | (52) | - | - | - |
| First American Financial Corp | Santa Ana | Dec | 234 | 187 | 302 | 79 | 129 | 134 | (72) | (122) |
| Digital Realty Trust | San Francisco | Dec | 203 | 320 | 216 | 162 | 105 | 91 | 68 | 23 |
| BioMed Realty Trust | San Diego | Dec | 201 | 47 | 16 | 43 | 39 | 60 | 63 | 72 |
| BioMed Realty Trust | San Diego | Dec | 201 | 47 | 16 | 42 | 39 | 60 | 63 | 72 |
| PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust | Moorpark | Dec | 195 | 200 | 138 | 64 | 24 | (2) | - | - |
| Mercury General | Los Angeles | Dec | 178 | 112 | 117 | 191 | 152 | 403 | (242) | 238 |
| PacWest Bancorp | Rancho Santa Fe | Dec | 170 | 45 | 57 | 51 | (62) | (9) | (728) | 90 |
| Colony Financial | Santa Monica | Dec | 160 | 126 | 68 | 43 | 18 | (0) | - | - |
| Health Net | Woodland Hills | Dec | 146 | 170 | 26 | 72 | 204 | (49) | 95 | 194 |
| Cathay General Bancorp | Los Angeles | Dec | 138 | 124 | 118 | 101 | 12 | (67) | 51 | 126 |
| Essex Property Trust | Palo Alto | Dec | 134 | 141 | 128 | 50 | 50 | 44 | 80 | 56 |
| Alexandria Real Estate Equities | Pasadena | Dec | 107 | 140 | 106 | 136 | 78 | 135 | 100 | 76 |
| CVB Financial | Ontario | Dec | 104 | 96 | 77 | 82 | 63 | 65 | 63 | 61 |
| Redwood Trust | Mill Valley | Dec | 101 | 173 | 132 | 25 | 111 | 39 | (446) | (1,109) |
| Encore Capital Group | San Diego | Dec | 100 | 75 | 79 | 61 | 49 | 33 | 14 | 12 |
| Fair Isaac | San Jose | Sep | 95 | 90 | 92 | 72 | 64 | 65 | 81 | 112 |
| CoreLogic | Santa Ana | Dec | 91 | 100 | 95 | 53 | 84 | 121 | 34 | |
| Kennedy-Wilson Holdings | Beverly Hills | Dec | 90 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 6 | (10) | 1 | 9 |
| BBCN Bancorp | Los Angeles | Dec | 89 | 82 | 83 | 27 | (7) | (6) | 3 | 33 |
| Sunstone Hotel Investors | Aliso Viejo | Dec | 83 | 22 | 1 | 48 | (30) | (44) | 28 | 29 |
| LTC Properties | Westlake Village | Dec | 73 | 55 | 50 | 50 | 46 | 44 | 43 | 48 |
| Molina Healthcare | Long Beach | Dec | 63 | 45 | 13 | 21 | 55 | 31 | 60 | 58 |
| Westamerica | San Rafael | Dec | 61 | 67 | 81 | 88 | 95 | 125 | 60 | 90 |
| Kilroy Realty | Los Angeles | Dec | 59 | 15 | (5) | 5 | 10 | 28 | 41 | 39 |
| Bofl Holding | San Diego | Jun | 56 | 40 | 29 | 21 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Douglas Emmett Inc | Santa Monica | Dec | 53 | 53 | 28 | 2 | (33) | (34) | (36) | (19) |
| Advent Software | San Francisco | Dec | 50 | 29 | 30 | 28 | 24 | 21 | 17 | 10 |
| Marcus & Millichap | Calabasas | Dec | 50 | 8 | 28 | 13 | 8 | - | - | - |
| Sabra Health Care REIT | Irvine | Dec | 47 | 34 | 20 | 13 | - | - | - | - |
| eBay Inc | San Jose | Dec | 46 | 2,856 | 2,609 | 3,229 | 1,801 | 2,389 | 1,779 | 348 |
| Financial Engines | Sunnyvale | Dec | 37 | 30 | 19 | 15 | 64 | 6 | (4) | (2) |
| American Assets Trust | San Diego | Dec | 31 | 23 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 5 | (12) | (2) |
| Hudson Pacific Properties | Los Angeles | Dec | 24 | 1 | (5) | (2) | (3) | (1) | (3) | (4) |
| Retail Opportunity Investments | San Diego | Dec | 21 | 35 | 8 | 10 | (0) | (9) | 3 | 2 |
| WageWorks | San Mateo | Dec | 18 | 22 | 10 | 33 | (17) | (1) | (4) | |
| Ellie Mae | Pleasanton | Dec | 15 | 13 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 2 | (1) | 1 |
| TriNet Group | San Leandro | Dec | 15 | 13 | 32 | 16 | (10) | 18 | 9 | |
| American Homes 4 Rent | Malibu | Dec | (33) | (20) | (10) | - | - | - | - | - |
| VeriFone Systems | San Jose | Oct | (36) | (295) | 66 | 283 | 99 | (157) | (411) | (37) |
| Trulia | San Francisco | Dec | (76) | (18) | (11) | (6) | (4) | (7) | (8) | (8) |
| Workday | Pleasanton | Jan | (173) | (119) | (80) | (56) | (50) | (51) | (25) | - |
| Total all 61 California Financial Companies | 47,754 | 49,660 | 43,189 | 33,821 | 30,164 | 33,233 | 24 | 15,309 | ||
| Annual Earnings % Increase | ||||||||||
| …..2014 Over 2008 | 198,875% | |||||||||
| …..2014 Over 2007 | 212% | |||||||||
| Earnings 2014 and 2013 Combined | 97,414 | |||||||||
| Losses 2009 and 2008 Combined | 33,257 | |||||||||
| …Total Earnings Improvement | 64,157 | |||||||||
| Earnings 3 Years 2012-14 Combined | 140,603 | |||||||||
| Earnings 3 Years 2008-10 Combined | 63,421 | |||||||||
| …Total Earnings Improvement | 77,183 | |||||||||
