Wells Fargo & Co. announced today that it expects to report record first-quarter 2009 earnings of $3 billion when it announces its results on April 22, far exceeding analysts’ expectations, the Associated Press reported.

The news sent the company’s stock soaring 27 percent to $18.91 a share in morning trading. The Dow Jones industrial average also jumped more than 200 points to 8,042.20 as the second-largest U.S. home lender joined Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in saying recently that results improved early this year, Bloomberg reported.

Wells Fargo expects earnings after preferred dividend payments of about 55 cents per share and revenues for the quarter ended March 31 to rise 16 percent to $20 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast profits of 23 cents per share on revenues of $19 billion. In the year-ago period, the company had a net income of $2 billion, or 60 cents per share.

Wells Fargo credits its acquisition of Wachovia Corp. at the beginning of this year for some of its success, as Wachovia’s performance has exceeded expectations.

Wells Fargo expects to record charge-offs of $3.3 billion for the quarter, compared with $6.1 billion for Wells Fargo and Wachovia Corp. during the fourth quarter.