No investor likes a surprise net loss, and an unexpected quarterly deficit put Toronto-Dominion Bank 's (NYSE: TD) stock in the doghouse on Thursday. The company's share price sagged by more than 2% in late-session trading, a steeper decline than the 0.8% slide of the S&P 500 index at the same time.

High provisions sank the bottom line

Toronto-Dominion's results for the fiscal third quarter of 2024 came out Thursday morning before market open. For the period, the lender's non- GAAP (adjusted) revenue was 14.2 billion Canadian dollars ($10.4 billion), an improvement over the CA$13.1 billion ($9.6 billion) of the same quarter of 2023.

However, there was a dramatic change on the bottom line, and not for the better. Toronto-Dominion flipped to a GAAP net loss of CA$181 million ($133 million) from the year-ago profit of CA$2.56 billion ($1.88 billion). The major reason for the stark difference was the CA$2.6 billion ($1.9 billion) the company set aside in the quarter for anticipated fines from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). The federal agency is investigating the bank for its anti-money laundering (AML) practices.

When the DoJ-related provision and other one-time items are stripped from the GAAP results, the adjusted bottom line landed well in the black. It was CA$3.6 billion ($2.6 billion), although this was essentially flat year over year.

On average, analysts tracking Toronto-Dominion stock were modeling slightly over CA$13 billion ($9.5 billion) for total adjusted revenue, and CA$2.07 ($1.52) for per-share, adjusted net income.

No. 1 priority firmly in place

That net loss shocked investors and was a major factor in their overall negative reaction. It's also uncomfortable to be reminded of a top-level government investigation into a company's business practices. In its earnings release, Toronto-Dominion said that addressing this was a priority and that it was devoting considerable resources to improving the situation.

Before you buy stock in Toronto-Dominion Bank, consider this: