Shares of JPMorgan Soar After CEO Says Bank is “Very Valuable”

JPMorgan shares were on the rise this week after the company’s CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank was “very valuable” at current share prices.

“I think JPMorgan is a very valuable company at these prices,” Dimon said in response to a question at a virtual financial services conference about the company’s valuation.

Dimon said that he was hopeful that his “base case” for the economy would occur. This would include improving unemployment and other metrics in the second half of the year after hitting almost 20% in the second quarter.

Shares of the stock were up nearly 8% after Dimon said the comments.

“I’m not trying to predict the bottom,” Dimon said, adding that “you cannot be a bank and be immune to what goes on in the world out there.”

“I give it some pretty good odds,” Dimon said. “The government has been very responsive, the Federal Reserve has been very responsive. Large companies have a huge wherewithal, hopefully we’ll keep the small ones alive long enough that most of them get back into business.”

According to Dimon, JPMorgan was prepared for a longer malaise caused by the coronavirus, he was hopeful that reopening efforts around the country would work.

“You could see a fairly rapid recovery,” he said. “I think that’s got a good chance.”

It was in 2016 that Dimon bought $26 million worth of shares of the company.