Morgan Stanley earnings beat estimates as stock trading and investment banking top expectations

Morgan Stanley is set to report second-quarter earnings before the opening bell on Thursday.

Here’s what Wall Street expects:

Earnings: $1.65 a share, 16% lower than a year earlier, according to Refinitiv.

Revenue: $13.98 billion, 4.2% higher than a year earlier.

Wealth management: $5.9 billion, according to FactSet.

Trading: Equities $2.4 billion, Fixed Income $2 billion.

Investment Banking: $2.1 billion

Morgan Stanley may be ideally suited for the moment.

While rival banks reported a steep slowdown in fixed income trading revenue, dragging down overall second quarter results, Morgan Stanley’s strength has traditionally been in its equities trading franchise, the biggest in the world.

That corner of Wall Street has outperformed in the second quarter, as have wealth management businesses, both of which have benefited from high stock values and robust IPO activity. Another area that has flourished is investment banking, propelled by robust mergers activity and related financings.

All of which should play to CEO James Gorman’s advantage. Through a series of savvy acquisitions, Gorman has built up the bank’s wealth management franchise to be one of the largest in the world. He also helped rehabilitate the firm’s trading operations and maintained its leading merger advisory practice.

Shares of the bank have climbed 35% this year, compared to the 26% rise of the KBW Bank Index.

Morgan Stanley is the last of the six largest U.S. banks to report second-quarter earnings.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all beat analysts’ profit expectations by releasing money set aside earlier for loan losses. Key rival Goldman Sachs beat estimates on strong advisory results.  

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