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Morgan Stanley 2Q profit tops estimates

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) opened at 40.04 on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company.

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The bank’s annualized return on average common equity from continuing operations was approximately 9.9% in the most recent quarter, or 9.1% excluding DVA. This was the fourth time in the last one and a half years that Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) was able to achieve this high water mark. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.27 and a 200-day moving average of $37.19. The company has a market cap of $78.88 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65.

Morgan Stanley says its second-quarter profit fell 9 percent despite better earnings at all three of its core businesses. Mr Chubak estimated equities revenue of about $2.01bn and Mr Goldberg predicted $2.07bn.

Revenue from fixed-income, currency and commodities sales and trading rose 25 percent to $1.27 billion on an adjusted basis in the quarter ended June 30. The earnings for the prior year second quarter included a net discrete tax benefit of $609 million or $0.31 per diluted share, principally related to the remeasurement of reserves and related interest.8. Non-compensation expenses increased 5 percent to $2.61 billion, reflecting higher volume driven expenses and professional services costs, principally consulting fees. Per-share earnings, though, beat analysts’ average estimate of 74 cents.

Shares of Morgan Stanley rose 4 percent in pre-market trading. This was revealed to clients and investors in a research report on Monday, 20 July.

“Given an impressive set of second-quarter results, we expect shares to outperform, with positive consensus revisions likely as well”, said Nomura analyst Steven Chubak.

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Donald T. Nicolaisen sold 4,160 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. USA officials view Huawei as a security threat due to perceived close links to the Chinese government, which the company denies.

The bank’s wealth management business achieved a pretax margin of 23 percent, up from 22 percent in the first quarter and 21 percent in the year-earlier quarter. Total client assets under management were $2 trillion. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Moody’s said the upgrade – the only two-notch increase among the 13 global banks it assessed – was based on the bank’s increased business diversification, prospects for improved profitability and lower earnings volatility.

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Morgan Stanley is a financial holding company. The Company’s operating segments include Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management. The Company provides financial advisory and capital-raising services to a group of corporate and other institutional clients worldwide.

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