Investing.com - Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley (N:MS) reported stronger than expected fourth quarter earnings and revenue ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell, sending its shares 4% higher in pre-market trade.
Morgan Stanley said adjusted earnings per share came in at 43 cents in the October-December quarter, beating expectations for earnings of 33 cents per share.
Net income was $908 million, or 39 cents per diluted share, compared with net losses of $1.6 billion, or 91 cents per diluted share, for the same period a year ago.
The bank’s fourth quarter adjusted revenue totaled $7.7 billion, above forecasts for revenue of $7.63 billion but down 1.4% from revenue of $7.8 billion a year ago.
Wealth Management net revenues were $3.8 billion and pre-tax margin was 20%. Investment Management reported net revenues of $621 million with assets under management or supervision of $406 billion.
Fixed Income & Commodities sales and trading net revenues of $550 million decreased from $599 million a year ago reflecting challenging market conditions and lower results in securitized products.
James P. Gorman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "A strong overall performance in the first half of the year was impacted by difficult market conditions in the second half that dampened trading activity.”
Immediately after the earnings announcement, Morgan Stanley shares rallied 93 cents, or 3.63%, in trading prior to the opening bell to hit $26.88 from a closing price of $25.95 on Friday.
Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was upbeat. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 1.6%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 1.65%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.7%.