Morgan Stanley's Results Climb on Trading Bump

By Liz Hoffman 

Morgan Stanley said its quarterly earnings rose, the last of the big Wall Street banks to report numbers that were better than a year ago.

The New York-based firm reported a profit of $1.93 billion, or $1 a share. That compares with the $1.13 billion, or 55 cents a share, it reported in the first quarter of 2016, which was a dismal one for big banks.

Revenue grew to $9.75 billion from $7.79 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected 88 cents a share on revenue of $9.27 billion.

The firm's return on equity, a closely watched measure of profitability, was 10.7% in the quarter, a strong start toward the full-year 10% target laid out by Chief Executive James Gorman.

Morgan Stanley faced high expectations after strong trading results at Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. But those were tempered a bit when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported lower-than-expected earnings due to disappointing trading.

Trading clients in general have been more active, rising asset prices have buoyed firms with large wealth-management businesses, and after a lull, more companies have sought to go public in recent months.

Still, the past few months have been challenging in other Morgan Stanley core businesses. Stock-trading, where it is Wall Street's leader, has grappled with lower commissions and more money moving to passive managers that trade less often.

Morgan Stanley's shares are down 2.5% this year, having given up about half of their post-election gains.

Write to Liz Hoffman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 19, 2017 07:15 ET (11:15 GMT)

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