Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) broke its string of three losing quarters, announcing Wednesday that it turned a third quarter profit. The New-York based company posted earnings from continuing operations related to Morgan Stanley of $757 million or 38 cents a share.
The result easily topped analyst estimates, which called for 24 cents a share on average, according to Thomson Reuters.
Net revenues for the quarter totaled $8.7 billion, compared to $5.4 billion in the second quarter. Net revenues in the current quarter included a loss of $900 million due to the continued improvement in Morgan Stanley’s credit spreads on some of its debt-related credit spreads.
The company reported an increase in underwriting revenues to $760 million, a 74 percent rise from the third quarter last year due to higher levels of market activity.
Equity underwriting revenues more than doubled to $457 million, while fixed income underwriting revenues rose 25 percent to $303 million from the same period a year ago.
“Our investment banking business delivered particularly strong results, ranking #1 in global announced and completed M&A and showing strong performance in underwriting for both debt and equity, where we ranked #1 in global IPOs,” added Mack.
Morgan’s Global Wealth Management business also swung a profit following several losing quarters. The unit earned pre-tax income of $280 million, compared with a pre-tax loss of $1 million in the third quarter of last year. Net revenue for the unit totaled $3.0 billion, up 91 percent from a year ago.
Just like other major Wall Street Firms, such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley tucked away a nice chunk of money in the third quarter to cover year-end bonuses. The firm put away roughly $5 billion for the period, raising its total to $10.9 million for the year.
