Morgan Stanley Trounces Q4 Expectations on Strong Bond Trading

Investing.com – Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) became the latest of Wall Street’s bulge bracket to report fourth-quarter sharply ahead of analysts’ expectations, thanks to a bumper quarter for bond trading and underwriting.

The firm reported earnings per share of $1.2 on revenue of $10.86 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com expected EPS of $1.03 on revenue of $9.71 billion.

That was up from EPS of $0.73 on revenue of $8.55 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The firm reported earnings per share of $1.2 on revenue of $10.86B. Analysts polled by Investing.com expected EPS of $1.03 on revenue of $9.71B. That compared to EPS of $0.73 on revenue of $8.55B in the same period a year earlier. The company had reported EPS of $1.21 on revenue of $10.03B in the previous quarter.

Net profit rose over 50% from a year earlier to $2.2 billion, even after a $172 million charge for restructuring costs as the bank cut positions at the end of the year.

“We delivered strong quarterly earnings across all of our businesses,” said chairman and chief executive officer James Gorman, noting that four straight quarters of revenue over $10 billion had made for a record year on both top and bottom lines.

Return on tangible common equity – a key measure of profitability – rose to 13.0% from 8.8% a year earlier, but was still below the 2019 average of 13.4%

Morgan Stanley follows other major Financial sector earnings this month

On Tuesday, JPMorgan reported fourth quarter EPS of $2.57 on revenue of $29.21B, compared to forecasts of EPS of $2.35 on revenue of $27.87B.

Bank of America earnings beat analysts’ expectations on Wednesday, with fourth quarter EPS of $0.74 on revenue of $22.35B. Investing.com analysts expected EPS of $0.69 on revenue of $22.22B

Stay up-to-date on all of the upcoming earnings reports by visiting Investing.com’s earnings calendar

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