Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported Thursday that its first-quarter profit dropped to$968 million, or 50 cents a share, from a profit of $1.78 billion, or 99 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue declined 16% to $7.64 billion. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 42 cents per share on revenue of $7.88 billion.
James P. Gorman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We continued to strengthen our client franchise and delivered solid results across many of our businesses. Our premier investment banking franchise remains a clear industry leader -- maintaining our #1 ranking in global M&A in a robust deal market. We also made gains in key areas of focus -- with our best results in equities since the financial crisis; significant improvement in fixed income and commodities from last quarter; and positive flows across wealth management and asset management. While the loss at our joint venture with MUFG is disappointing, we remain strongly committed to the Japanese market and our strategic partners at MUFG. Further, this loss does not impact the progress we are making in pursuing our own strategic priorities. I am confident that Morgan Stanley is well-positioned to seize the opportunities presented by today's market environment and deliver long-term value to our clients, shareholders and employees."
Full Disclosure: None.
