By Liz Hoffman

Morgan Stanley 's fourth-quarter profit rose 46% from a year ago, with gains spread evenly across its businesses.

The firm's profit of $2.2 billion, or $1.30 a share, on $10.9 billion in revenue, topped expectations of bank analysts polled by FactSet, who had forecast earnings of $1.02 a share on $9.71 billion of revenue.

For the full year, revenue and profit both ticked up 3%.

Morgan Stanley is the last of the big U.S. banks to report earnings for the fourth quarter, navigating a stretch that included a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut and fierce global tensions.

Giants JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. sailed through, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. both took big legal charges that dragged down profits.

Morgan Stanley's return on equity, a measure of profitability, was 11.3% for the quarter, versus a range of 8.7% to 15% at peers.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 16, 2020 07:43 ET (12:43 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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