Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) released its earnings numbers for the third quarter of 2013 this morning before the bell rang on Wall Street. The investment bank showed earnings of $0.50 per share for the three months on revenue totaling $$8.1 billion. Stock in Morgan Stanley will open later this morning at $28.93 per share.
In the run up to this morning’s release Bloomberg’s consensus earnings estimate from 18 analysts stood at 41 cents per share. The bank was expected to have taken in revenue of $7.5 billion in the three months ending September 30. In the same quarter of 2012 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) earned 28 cents per share on revenue of $5.3 billion.
Morgan Stanley Earnings
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has been the best performing of the big U.S. banks in 2013. The firm has managed to avoid many of the pitfalls that other banks fell into through the first half of the year, but it was not able to avoid the slow down related to Federal Reserve taper talk and interest rate rises in the third quarter of the year.
This earnings season has not been a good one for banks as a result of the unease over Federal Reserve policy. The interest rate instability resulted in a loss in mortgage business at the retail banks, and a loss in trading income across the board.
Morgan Stanley performance
Shares in the investment bank have gained more than 50% since January 1, beating returns from the other banks by a wide margin. The gains have left Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) with a price earnings ratio of more than 40. That means a large amount of future earnings growth is already baked into the company’s stock.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) executives will host a conference call to speak about these numbers at 4 PM EST. The firm’s earnings call will cap a poor earnings season for the financial sector, and leave investors wondering how to proceed through the end of the year.