 confirmed a 150% increase in its Q1 profit on Friday that blew past expectations.){kind=link}
Morgan Stanley net revenue jumped 61% to $15.72bn
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) confirmed a 150% increase in its Q1 profit on Friday that blew past expectations.
The announcement came as high trading activity supported its international securities division and a global dealmaking surge lifted investment banking.
However, the Wall Street giant also confirmed a one-time loss in excess of $900m that it said came following a credit event and resulting losses from a “single prime brokerage client”.
Morgan Stanley was one of a group of banks exposed to Archegos Capital Management, a family office that defaulted on margin calls at the end of March causing a firesafe of stocks across Wall Street.
However, despite the setback, the investment bank surpassed its expectations with ease, conceding a strong quarter for New York’s major banks that benefited from reserve releases and record capital markets activity.
The jump in the volume of trades during Q1 of this year, powered largely by the Reddit-inspired trading surge of GameStop, among other stocks, driving a 66% spike in revenue of Morgan Stanley’s securities operation.
Morgan Stanley said net income applicable to shareholders rose to $3.98bn, or $2.19 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $1.59bn, or $1.01 per share, a year ago.
Analysts were looking for a profit of $1.70 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net revenue jumped 61% to $15.72bn.
Morgan Stanley prospered as a result of unprecedented levels in dealmaking through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).