Ted Pick, CEO Morgan Stanley, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 18th, 2024.
Adam Galici | CNBC
Morgan Stanley said second-quarter profit and revenue topped analysts’ estimates on stronger-than-expected trading and investment banking results.
Here’s what the company reported:
- Earnings: $1.82 a share vs. $1.65 a share LSEG estimate
- Revenue: $15.02 billion vs. $14.3 billion estimate
The bank said profit surged 41% from the year-earlier period to $3.08 billion, or $1.82 per share, helped by a rebound in Wall Street activity. Revenue rose 12% to $15.02 billion.
But shares of the bank declined earlier in the session after the bank’s wealth management division missed estimates on a steep decline in interest income. They were up less than 1% in midday trading.
Wealth management revenue rose 2% to $6.79 billion, below the $6.88 billion estimate, and interest income plunged 17% from a year earlier to $1.79 billion.
Morgan Stanley said that’s because its rich clients were continuing to shift cash into higher-yielding assets, thanks to the rate environment, resulting in lower deposit levels.
Morgan Stanley investors value the more steady nature of the wealth management business versus the less predictable nature of investment banking and trading, and they will want to hear more about expectations for the business going forward.
Still, the bank benefited from its Wall Street-centric business model in the quarter, as a rebound in trading and investment banking helped the bank’s institutional securities division earn more revenue than its wealth management division, flipping the usual dynamic.
Equity trading generated an 18% jump in revenue to $3.02 billion, exceeding the StreetAccount estimate by about $330 million. Fixed income trading revenue rose 16% to $1.99 billion, topping the estimate by $130 million.
Investment banking revenue surged 51% to $1.62 billion, exceeding the estimate by $220 million, on rising fixed income underwriting activity. Morgan Stanley said that was primarily driven by non-investment-grade companies raising debt.
“The firm delivered another strong quarter in an improving capital markets environment,” CEO Ted Pick said in the release. “We continue to execute on our strategy and remain well positioned to deliver growth and long-term value for our shareholders.”
Last week, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup each topped expectations for revenue and profit, a streak continued by Goldman Sachs on Monday, helped by a rebound in Wall Street activity.
