Morgan Stanley Profit Shoots Higher, Fueled by Wall Street

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