By Liz Hoffman

Morgan Stanley said its quarterly earnings rose, the last of the big Wall Street banks to report numbers that were better than a year ago.

The New York-based firm reported a profit of $1.93 billion, or $1 a share. That compares with the $1.13 billion, or 55 cents a share, it reported in the first quarter of 2016, which was a dismal one for big banks.

Revenue grew to $9.75 billion from $7.79 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected 88 cents a share on revenue of $9.27 billion.

The firm's return on equity, a closely watched measure of profitability, was 10.7% in the quarter, a strong start toward the full-year 10% target laid out by Chief Executive James Gorman.

Morgan Stanley faced high expectations after strong trading results at Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. But those were tempered a bit when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported lower-than-expected earnings due to disappointing trading.

Trading clients in general have been more active, rising asset prices have buoyed firms with large wealth-management businesses, and after a lull, more companies have sought to go public in recent months.

Still, the past few months have been challenging in other Morgan Stanley core businesses. Stock-trading, where it is Wall Street's leader, has grappled with lower commissions and more money moving to passive managers that trade less often.

Morgan Stanley's shares are down 2.5% this year, having given up about half of their post-election gains.

Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 19, 2017 07:15 ET (11:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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