Morgan Stanley share price rises in pre-market trading as bank beats analyst expectations with fourth-quarter profit
Morgan Stanley beat analyst expectations when it reported a fourth-quarter profit this morning, thanks to lower legal costs and compensation expenses.
The Wall Street bank exceeded analysts’ expectations for both earnings and revenue, reporting 43 cents a share in profit on $7.9bn (£5.54bn) of revenue. Analysts had expected a quarterly profit of 33 cents a share on $7.59bn of revenue, according to consensus compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Morgan Stanley's shares rose about 3.5 percent in pre-market trading following the results announcement.
The bank said that its total non-interest costs had fallen 41 percent in the fourth quarter after it cut jobs in its trading business.
Compensation costs in particular fell 28.5 per cent to $3.65bn.
"We enter 2016 with a continued focus on managing expenses across the firm and driving up returns for our shareholders," the bank's chief executive, James Gorman, said in a statement.