Morgan Stanley outperforms rivals with profit beat – Reuters

Morgan Stanley outperforms rivals with profit beat – Reuters

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) beat quarterly profit expectations on Wednesday by capitalizing on a boom in dealmaking and earning robust fees from managing assets for wealthy clients, sending the shares of the Wall Street investment bank up 5%.

Full-year profit as well as revenue was a record for the bank, which advised on some of the world's biggest mergers during the year. Net income surged 37% to $15 billion and revenue jumped 23% to nearly $60 billion.

Morgan Stanley's results rounded out a mixed earnings season for the nation's largest banks that cashed in on the M&A wave, but were dragged down by weak trading and higher expenses, which swelled as they spent heavily to retain key personnel in a race for talent.