Morgan Stanley Shares Rise after Company Reports a Profit in Q3 (MS)

Shares of Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) have risen in trading today after the company reported a profit in its third quarter. Morgan Stanley’s third-quarter results benefited from an increase in wealth management revenue.

Morgan Stanley shares rose to an intra-day high of $17.72 today. At last check, the stock was trading 1.38% higher at $16.86 on volume of 34.64 million. Morgan Stanley shares have gained 10.78% in the last three trading sessions. However, the stock is still down almost 39% year-to-date.

Apart from strong wealth management revenue, Morgan Stanley also benefited from a $3.4 billion accounting gain in the third quarter of 2011. However, the company’s underlying businesses also remained robust in the third quarter despite the turmoil in the financial markets in the months of August and September.

The third quarter of 2011 has been a tough one for Wall Street firms as the ongoing debt crisis in Europe and worries about a double-dip recession caused panic in financial markets and led to a decline in securities issuance and mergers, which are Morgan Stanley’s major businesses.

Morgan Stanly has also been under the scanner after recent reports suggested that the New York City-based bank had significant exposure to debt of France and other euro zone countries. The bank, today, said that its exposure to troubled euro zone economies was limited.

Morgan Stanley CFO Ruth Porat said in an interview that it is frustrating to look at credit spreads, which are inconsistent with the strength the bank is seeing in its business.

For the third quarter of 2011, Morgan Stanley reported earnings of $2.15 billion, or $1.15 per share, compared with a loss of $0.07 per share reported for the same period in the previous year. The bank’s revenue for the third quarter jumped 46% on a year-over-year basis to $9.89 billion. Excluding the accounting gain, Morgan Stanley reported a profit of $0.02 per share.

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.