Morgan Stanley posted third-quarter results that beat expectations on blockbuster results in its equities trading franchise.
Here’s what the company reported:
- Earnings per share: $3.03 vs. $2.91 LSEG estimate
- Revenue: $20.34 billion vs. $19.95 billion LSEG estimate
The company said profit climbed 6.5% to $4.91 billion, or $3.03 a share. Revenue climbed 12% to $20.34 billion.
The firm’s equities trading division, long a marquee business for Morgan Stanley, posted a 41% increase in revenue to $5.8 billion, exceeding the StreetAccount estimate by about $909 million.
Morgan Stanley cited widespread strength across its equities products and regions, but cited Asia as a source of particular strength in the quarter. The gains in that business helped offset disappointments elsewhere.
Fixed income trading revenue fell 7% to $2.01 billion, driven by declines in credit and commodities, which is roughly $260 million below expectations.
Investment banking revenue edged 2% higher to $2.16 billion, about $110 million below expectations. The bank cited an increase in advisory revenue on more completed mergers, but declines in equity underwriting on lower IPOs and a decline in fixed income underwriting.
Still, the results were “good, but not great,” as some business metrics showed slower improvement in the quarter, Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo said Wednesday in a note.
Morgan Stanley shares declined about 3% in midday trading.
The economy is subject to two key forces right now: the boost from the AI buildout and the drag from geopolitical strife, Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick told CNBC’s Leslie Picker on Wednesday.
Starting in early September, concerns with overseas conflict, inflation and surging yields slowed activity across Wall Street, Pick noted.
“The interaction of the AI phenomenon and geopolitics has been the dominant reality the whole year,” Pick said. “It’s really two very different stories, and I’d like to think that we are going to have the first narrative, the positive narrative, if we can get some control over the geopolitics.”
Pick is “cautiously optimistic” about markets in the fourth quarter, he added.
