Morgan Stanley (MS) exceeds Q3 expectations; stock gains

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) beat third quarter 2019 earnings and revenue estimates sending its shares up about 4% in the before-market hours. The banking giant posted adjusted earnings of $1.21 per share and GAAP earnings of $1.27 per share in the September quarter. Revenue for the third quarter of 2019 rose 2% from the year-ago quarter to $10 billion.

Analysts had expected the company’s earnings to decrease year-over-year by 5% to $1.11 per share and revenue to decline by 2.4% to $9.63 billion for the recently ended quarter.

Check below Morgan Stanley’s Q3 2019 earnings infograph:

Morgan Stanley’s strong results for the three months ended September 30, 2019, were helped by the growth across all business segments. Institutional Securities net revenues of $5 billion reflected strength across products and strong client engagement despite seasonality and volatile markets. Sales and Trading net revenues surged 10% to $3.46 billion from a year ago quarter. Wealth Management net revenues stayed flat at $4.4 billion.

Read: Charles Schwab (SCHW) outclasses Q3 earnings and revenue targets on strong client demand

“We delivered strong quarterly earnings despite the typical summer slowdown and volatile markets. Firmwide revenues were over $10 billion for the third consecutive quarter, and we produced an ROE within our target range,” said CEO James Gorman.

Among other banking firms that reported their earnings results this week, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) topped Q3 estimates. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) failed to meet Q3 earnings targets, while they beat revenue estimates.

Morgan Stanley stock had gained 8% since the beginning of this year, while it dropped 7% from this time last year.

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