By Peter Rudegeair
Morgan Stanley's first-quarter profit rose as the company, like
its peers, benefited from a stronger environment for deals and
trading.
The New York-based bank posted a first-quarter profit of $2.39
billion, compared with $1.51 billion in the same period of 2014. On
a per-share basis, Morgan Stanley's profit was 85 cents when
stripping out accounting adjustments. Analysts polled by Thomson
Reuters had expected earnings of 78 cents a share.
Revenue rose to $9.91 billion, or $9.78 billion excluding
accounting adjustments. Analysts had projected $9.17 billion.
Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman has sought to
reorient the bank away from unpredictable businesses such as bond
trading to more consistent ones like wealth management. Mr. Gorman
appeared to achieve success in 2014, though it was offset somewhat
by a $2.6 billion settlement announced in February that resolved a
U.S. Department of Justice investigation into mortgage bonds it
sold in the run-up to the financial crisis.
Shares of Morgan Stanley have fallen 5.3% since the start of
2015 compared with a 2.1% fall in the KBW index of bank stocks over
the same period.
Write to Peter Rudegeair at peter.rudegeair@wsj.com
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