5 Stocks in the Limelight After Earnings Reports

2. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 69

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) caught investors’ attention on Thursday, 14 October 2021, after announcing its third-quarter profit and sales above expectations. The results were helped by strong performance across all key business segments.

The New York-based financial services company reported earnings of $1.98 per share, compared to $1.66 per share in the same period last year. Revenue came in at $14.8 billion, up from $11.7 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were expecting Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to report earnings of $1.69 per share on revenue of $13.93 billion.

If we look at the performance of key businesses, revenue from the wealth management segment jumped 28 percent to $5.94 billion, while revenue from the investment banking division climbed 67 percent to $2.85 billion. In comparison, equity revenues rose 24 percent to $2.88 billion, while fixed income revenue fell 16 percent to $1.64 billion.

CEO James P. Gorman expressed his satisfaction with the latest quarterly performance. He said in a statement:

“The Firm delivered another very strong quarter, with robust revenues and improved efficiency producing an ROTCE of 20%. We had standout performance of our integrated Investment Bank and record net new assets of $135 billion in Wealth Management. Year-to-date, our successful integrations of E*TRADE and Eaton Vance have supported growth of $400 billion in net new client assets across Wealth and Investment Management, bringing our total combined client assets to $6.2 trillion.”