Morgan Stanley Posts Biggest Fourth-Quarter Profit Since Crisis -- Update

By Liz Hoffman 

Morgan Stanley said its quarterly earnings climbed 83% and beat analyst expectations as the bank logged its strongest fourth-quarter profit since the financial crisis.

Shares climbed 1.8% premarket.

The New York-based firm reported a profit of $1.67 billion, or 81 cents a share, in a quarter that included a surge of post-election trading activity.

That compares with the $908 million, or 39 cents a share it reported in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue grew 17% to $9.02 billion from $7.74 billion a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected 65 cents a share on revenue of $8.47 billion in the fourth quarter.

Morgan Stanley faced high expectations following fairly strong earnings from rivals J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. last week. A flurry of post-election stock trading boded well for Morgan Stanley, Wall Street's leading equities-trading house.

Compensation expense increased to $4.1 billion from $3.7 billion a year earlier, while noncompensation expenses grew to $2.7 billion from $2.6 billion.

Revenue in the bank's institutional securities division grew to $4.61 billion from $3.42 billion a year earlier, reflecting continued strength in sales and trading and deals activity.

The bank's shares have gained 28% since the election, which sent financial stocks soaring on investor hopes of higher interest rates and lighter regulation.

Write to Liz Hoffman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 17, 2017 07:23 ET (12:23 GMT)

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