The markets headed lower on Thursday after Morgan Stanley missed on earnings with a profit of 80 cents per share, falling below the 89 cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
In addition, Morgan Stanley reported that revenue declined 10 percent to $8.55 billion as opposed to the $9.3 billion estimate.
“This is not Morgan Stanley’s finest hour,” said Octavio Marenzi, CEO of capital markets consultancy Opimas. “In wealth management, Morgan Stanley’s revenues were down 6%, while competing firms were able to eke out single-digit growth. In equities trading, Morgan Stanley was even further behind the competition, with flat revenues where other investment banks were able to benefit from market volatility and show double-digit growth.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 80 points, while the S&P 500 declined 0.27 percent and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4 percent to start the trading session.
Solid Showing for Banks
Despite Morgan Stanley missing profit expectations, it’s been a solid week for the big names in the financial sector.
Goldman Sachs generated $6.04 per share in profit for the fourth quarter of 2018, versus the $4.45 per share estimate of analysts surveyed by data company Refinitiv. The investment bank also posted revenue of $8.08 billion, beating estimates of $7.55 billion.
Bank of America’s earnings came in at 73 cents per share, beating the 63 cents expected. Revenue was $22.7 billion versus initial estimates of $22.397 billion.