James Gorman, chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in Beijing, China, on Thursday, May 30, 2019.
Giulia Marchi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Morgan Stanley is set to report first-quarter earnings before the opening bell on Friday.
Here’s what Wall Street expects:
Earnings: $1.70 a share, 68% higher than a year earlier, according to Refinitiv
Revenue: $14.1 billion, 49% higher than a year earlier
Wealth management: $5.97 billion, according to FactSet
Trading: Equities $2.71 billion, Fixed Income $2.11 billion
Investment Banking: $2.13 billion
Expectations for Morgan Stanley are running high after rivals posted strong trading and investment banking results.
The boom in SPAC-issuance has led to a bonanza in fees for equity capital markets desks, and trading desks profited from strong activity across fixed income and stock markets. Furthermore, buoyant stock markets should help Morgan Stanley’s biggest single division, wealth management, as fees are typically a percentage of clients’ assets under management.
CEO James Gorman announced $20 billion in deals last year, marking the most aggressive takeovers since the financial crisis. He spent $13 billion to acquire E-Trade to further his reach with the mass affluent, and $7 billion to buy Eaton Vance to bulk up his investment management business. The Eaton Vance acquisition closed during the first quarter.
Morgan Stanley is the last of the six largest U.S. banks to report first-quarter earnings.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all beat analysts’ expectations with help from releasing money set aside earlier for loan losses. Key rival Goldman Sachs beat estimates on strong advisory and trading results.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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