Morgan Stanley rides trading and deal revival to record quarter
Morgan Stanley beat second-quarter expectations with record revenue and profit as equities trading, investment banking and wealth-management inflows all accelerated.
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Morgan Stanley’s second-quarter beat was less a cost-cut story than a sign that Wall Street’s core engines are running hot again. The bank said net income applicable to shareholders rose to $5.58 billion, or $3.46 a share, from $3.54 billion, or $2.13 a share, a year earlier. Revenue hit a record $21.35 billion, above the $19.64 billion analyst estimate cited by LSEG. kelo
The sharpest swing came from markets. Equities trading revenue jumped 69% to $6.3 billion, with Morgan Stanley citing strong client activity and notable strength in Asia. Fixed-income trading rose 13% to $2.46 billion, leaving the firm with a broad beat across its institutional securities arm. cnbc
Dealmaking also returned as a tailwind. Investment-banking revenue climbed 58% to $2.44 billion, helped by completed M&A, IPO underwriting and debt issuance. Reuters’ account of the quarter said first-half announced M&A reached $2.8 trillion, the strongest opening half in LSEG records, while Morgan Stanley worked on major equity-market transactions including SpaceX’s market debut and Cerebras’ New York listing. kelo
The company announced the results on July 15 and said the package would be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K. marketscreener The filing showed why investors may treat the quarter as more than a trading spike: wealth management added $148.1 billion in net new assets, total client assets across wealth and investment management reached $10 trillion, and return on tangible common equity was 26.6%. Morgan Stanley also authorized up to $20 billion in buybacks and lifted its quarterly dividend to $1.15 a share. stocktitan
The risk is that the same volatility that boosted trading can fade, while higher activity pushed expenses up 16% from a year earlier. Zacks noted higher compensation, brokerage, technology and marketing costs, but also pointed to stronger advisory, underwriting and client-asset growth as offsets. tradingview Morgan Stanley’s quarter puts it alongside JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, whose results also showed capital markets recovering faster than expected. cnbc