Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) shares popped after the firm exceeded analysts’ profit estimates and each of its three main businesses produced more revenue than expected.
The banking giant said Thursday that fourth-quarter profit surged 46% to $2.24 billion, or $1.30 a share, compared with the 99 cent estimate of analysts. Revenue climbed 27% to $10.86 billion, exceeding the $9.72 billion estimate by more than $1 billion.
"We delivered strong quarterly earnings across all of our businesses," CEO James Gorman said in the release. "Firmwide revenues were over $10 billion for the fourth consecutive quarter, resulting in record full year revenues and net income. This consistent performance met all of our stated performance targets."
Bond trading helped power the firm’s institutional securities division to a 32% jump in revenue to $5.05 billion, compared to the $4.46 billion estimate.
Fixed_income trading produced $1.27 billion in revenue, compared with the $933.5 million estimate. Equity trading revenue essentially matched expectations at $1.92 billion, as did investment banking at $1.58 billion.
But the investment management wing which succeeded most admirably, producing $1.36 billion in revenue, almost double that of a year earlier and exceeding the $783.2 million estimate by more than a half billion dollars.
That appears to be driven by a single investment: Morgan Stanley cited $670 million in investment revenue (a 720% increase from a year earlier) on the carried interest from an IPO in Asia.
Shares hiked $3.66, or 6.9%, to $56.60
