Morgan Stanley is set to report fourth-quarter earnings before the opening bell on Thursday.
Here’s what Wall Street expects:
- Earnings: 89 cents per share, according to Refinitiv.
- Revenue: $9.295 billion.
- Wealth management: $4.45 billion revenue, according to FactSet
- Trading: Equities: $2.04 billion. Fixed income: $800 million.
Under Chief Executive Officer James Gorman, Morgan Stanley has built out its wealth management division, a steadier business than its trading operations.
That should help it weather a decline in trading revenue amid turbulent markets late last year. Every major Wall Street bank to post results so far has booked declines of at least 16 percent in fixed income revenue for the fourth quarter as clients stepped away amid sharp movements in asset classes around the world.
Morgan Stanley will also update its strategic goals, giving investors guidance on performance metrics for 2019. During last year’s review, Gorman said that the bank could earn returns on average common equity of 10 to 13 percent, expand its market share in investment banking and trading and boost wealth management profit margins to 26 to 28 percent.
Shares of Morgan Stanley fell 24 percent last year, worse than the 20 percent decline of the KBW Bank Index.
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