Morgan Stanley tops analysts’ expectations on better-than-expected trading results

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday beat expectations for first quarter profit and revenue on better-than-expected trading results.

Here’s how the company did:

• Earnings of $1.70 per share, vs. $1.62 Refinitiv estimate
• Revenue of $14.52 billion, vs. $13.92 billion estimate.

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The bank said earnings fell 19% to $2.98 billion, or $1.70 a share, from a year earlier. Companywide revenue slipped 2% to $14.52 billion.

While trading results declined from a year ago, Morgan Stanley’s traders managed to top expectations by roughly $250 million. The bank’s fixed income traders produced $2.58 billion in revenue, exceeding the $2.33 billion StreetAccount estimate. Equities trading revenue of $2.73 billion edged out the $2.65 billion estimate.

Wealth management revenue climbed 11% from the year-earlier period to $6.56 billion, matching the StreetAccount estimate. The increase was fueled by a rise in net interest income amid higher rates and loan growth, which offset lower asset management revenues as markets declined.

Under CEO James Gorman, Morgan Stanley has become a wealth management giant thanks to a string of acquisitions. The bank gets most of its revenue from wealth and investment management, steadier businesses that helped offset volatile trading and banking results.

“The investments we have made in our wealth management business continue to bear fruit as we added a robust $110 billion in net new assets this quarter,” Gorman said in the earnings release. “Equity and Fixed Income revenues were strong, although Investment Banking activity continued to be constrained.”

Morgan Stanley shares have climbed 5.7% this year before Wednesday, outperforming the 16% decline of the KBW Bank Index.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America each topped expectations as the firms reaped more interest income amid rising rates. Goldman Sachs missed on costs tied to unloading consumer loans amid its pivot away from retail banking.

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