Morgan Stanley said fourth-quarter earnings were up 51% from a year earlier, another major US bank that came out of a turbulent year better than expected at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York-based company reported earnings of $ 3.39 billion, or $ 1.81 per share. Sales were up 26% to $ 13.64 billion. Both beat FactSet analyst consensus estimates, who predicted earnings per share of $ 1.30 on revenue of $ 11.58 billion.
Morgan Stanley completed fourth-quarter earnings reports from the country’s major banks, which continued to benefit from a Wall Street recovery and federal measures to combat pandemics that prevented the worst economic scenario. On Tuesday, rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc. a profit in the fourth quarter that was more than twice the results of a year earlier and annual sales that were 11 years high.
With its focus on wealthy Americans and big business and money handlers, Morgan Stanley is less exposed to mass unemployment and small business closures than more banks on Main Street.
Stock and bond trading income at Morgan Stanley was up 32% to $ 4.22 billion, a bigger jump than any other bank. Investment banking fees were up 46% to $ 2.30 billion, mainly due to $ 1 billion in revenues Morgan Stanley generated underwriting IPOs and other equity issues. Those fees have more than doubled from the fourth quarter of 2019.