Morgan Stanley (MS) Quarterly Profit Halved, Still Beats Wall Street Expectations

Morgan Stanley’s first quarter results beat Wall Street expectations even though the U.S. bank’s earnings fell 54.4 percent during the quarter as market volatility early in the year dampened the bank’s trading and investment business. Stock futures of the bank were trading 2.44 percent higher during pre-market trade following the announcement.

Earnings fell 54.4 percent to $1.06 billion, or 55 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31, from $2.31 billion, or $1.18 a share, a year earlier, the bank said in its earnings release Monday.

Analysts on average had expected the company to earn 46 cents per share, according to a poll by Reuters.

Morgan Stanley reported overall revenue of $7.8 billion for the quarter, compared with $9.9 billion a year ago. Extended slides in commodity and oil prices, concerns raised due to China’s slowest growth predictions in 25 years and uncertainty about U.S. interest rates made investors wary in January and February.

All of the big U.S. banks that have released results for the first quarter of 2016 have reported lower revenue from investment banking and trading, according to Reuters.

Morgan Stanley’s drop in profit was the highest in terms of percentage, with Citigroup reporting a 27.2 percent fall in profit and Bank of America reporting a 16 percent drop, for the first quarter of 2016. Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley's traditional rival, will report earnings on Tuesday, April 19.