Zions earnings jumped to $3.05 a share, but $1.31 of it came from selling securities

Strip out one sale and Zions earned $1.74 a share. The regional lender reported second-quarter net earnings of $452 million and diluted earnings per share of $3.05 on July 20, against $243 million and $1.63 a year earlier, according to an 8-K filed with the SEC. The jump is mostly one item.

Zions labelled it in its own release. A $215 million gain on the sale of Visa Class B-1 shares added $1.12 per share, and $37 million of net unrealized gains on Small Business Investment Company holdings added $0.19, for $1.31 of per-share earnings that will not repeat. Excluding those notable items, earnings per share were $1.74, up 10 percent from $1.58. Return on average tangible common equity was 28.6 percent as reported, and 16.6 percent without the gains.

The underlying quarter was steadier than the headline. Net interest income rose 4 percent to $677 million and net interest margin held at 3.27 percent, while loans grew 3 percent to $62.5 billion and deposits 4 percent to $76.6 billion. Chairman and Chief Executive Harris Simmons pointed to customer-related noninterest income, up 11 percent, and to tangible book value per share, up 22 percent to $44.74. Net charge-offs were 0.06 percent of loans.