Morgan Stanley, one of the world's biggest investment banks, yesterday reported strong stock and bond trading that pushed first-quarter results above Wall Street projections.
The company reported a profit of US$1.53 billion after preferred dividends, or US$1.45 per share, up from US$2.66 billion, or US$2.17 per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue fell 17 percent to US$8.3 billion from US$10 billion a year earlier.
Results easily topped analysts' expectations for a profit of US$1.03 per share on US$7.19 billion of revenue, according to Thomson Financial.
John Mack, Morgan Stanley's chairman and chief executive, said the investment house "effectively capitalized on market opportunities and aggressively managed our positions."
The results follow better than expected earnings from rivals Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
"While many of our businesses are facing challenging market conditions that we expect to continue in the months ahead, we are satisfied with how Morgan Stanley navigated the ongoing market turbulence," he said in a statement.
Morgan Stanley -- like its two rivals on Tuesday -- did show vulnerability to the ongoing credit crisis. It reported writedowns of US$2.3 billion -- US$1.2 billion from mortgage securities and US$1.1 billion from loans.
It also posted a pretax loss of US$161 million in its asset management business from securities issued by off-balance sheet structured investment vehicles.
Shares gained 5.9 percent to US$45.40 in premarket trading after closing at US$42.86 on Tuesday.
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