Forty-nine companies have paid $10.5bn work of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) debts.
The funds were not seen as a profitable investment, so the profits are unexpectedly large, according to report by SNL Financial.
Yet the Treasury may still lose $117bn because of its investment in other industries such as automotives.
Russ Yates, one of the authors of the SNL report, said: "The government did not do the bailout to make money but to provide stability to the financial system.
"The government's job is not to make money off the private sector."
Linus Wilson, a finance professor at the University of Louisiana, said: "[The] Treasury continues to get lucky. A year ago, few could have predicted the stock market would have been as high as it is today."
