Morgan Stanley Profit Shoots Higher, Fueled by Wall Street
- Date: 20-Jan-2021
- Source: The Wall Street Journal
- Sector:Financial Markets
- Country:Middle East
Morgan Stanley Profit Shoots Higher, Fueled by Wall Street
Morgan Stanley said Wednesday that fourth-quarter profit rose 51% from a year earlier, another big U.S. bank to emerge from a turbulent year in better shape than was expected at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York-based firm reported a profit of $3.39 billion, or $1.81 a share, on revenue of $13.64 billion. That beat the consensus estimates of analysts polled by FactSet, who predicted per-share earnings of $1.30 on revenue of $11.58 billion.
Morgan Stanley rounded out fourth-quarter earnings reports from the nation's big banks, which continued to benefit from a recovery on Wall Street and federal pandemic-response measures that forestalled the worst-case economic scenario. On Tuesday, rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit that was more than twice as large as year-earlier results and annual revenue that was at an 11-year high.
With its focus on wealthy Americans and big corporations and money managers, Morgan Stanley is less exposed to mass unemployment and small-business closures than