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Net income applicable to common shareholders
rose to $2.31 billion, or $1.18 per share, in the first quarter
ended March 31, from $1.45 billion, or 74 cents per share, a
year earlier.
Excluding items, the bank said it earned $1.14 per share.
Adjusted earnings according to calculations by Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S were 85 cents per share. On that basis, analysts had
expected per-share earnings of 78 cents.
Net revenue excluding items rose 10.3 percent to $9.78 billion,
beating the average analyst estimate of $9.17 billion.
Adjusted revenue from equities sales and trading rose 33 percent
to $2.27 billion, meaning that Morgan Stanley lost its lead in
the business over Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which reported
revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter.
Global stocks have generally performed strongly since the start
of the year, with several indexes at or close to record highs as
a number of central banks have eased monetary policy.
Morgan Stanley's own shares were up 2.6 percent at $37.70 in
premarket trading on Monday.
Revenue in the bank's wealth management business rose 6.2
percent to $3.83 billion, accounting for 39 percent of total
revenue.
Excluding special items, revenue from trading fixed-income
securities, currencies and commodities (FICC) rose 15 percent in
to $1.90 billion.
Morgan Stanley, the last big U.S. bank to report for the
quarter, is focusing less on bond markets and more on managing
money for the rich as a way to free up capital and comply with
stricter regulatory requirements since the financial crisis.
The wealth unit's contribution to revenue jumped to nearly 45
percent last year from less than 20 percent in 2006.
In the same period, FICC revenue fell to about 12 percent of
overall revenue from more than a third.
The bank's FICC business, like those of its rivals, got a boost
in the quarter after the Swiss central bank scrapped a cap on
the franc, the European Central Bank announced its quantitative
easing program and the U.S. Federal Reserve moved to tighten
monetary policy.
"This was our strongest quarter in many years with improved
performance across most areas of the firm," Chief Executive
James Gorman said in a statement
(Reporting by Avik Das and Anil D'Silva in Bengaluru; Editing by
Ted Kerr)
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