Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said Friday it earned a profit of 3.2 billion dollars in the second quarter, down 5.9 percent from a year ago but better than analyst forecasts.

The profit amounted to 33 cents per share when taking into account dividends paid to the US government for its capital injections, better than market expectations of 28 cents per share.

Revenues rose 60 percent from a year ago to 33.1 billion dollars, lifted in part by the acquisition of Wall Street brokerage Merrill Lynch.

"Having positive net income in an extremely challenging environment speaks to the diversity and strength of our business model as well as the extraordinary effort put forth by all of our associates," said Kenneth Lewis, chief executive officer and president.

"Our goals during this difficult time have been to enhance the strength of our balance sheet and capital position and to continue to improve our earning power while dealing with the credit issues facing our industry due to the recession."