Morgan Stanley on Wednesday reported a 10% jump in fourth-quarter profit as the Wall Street investment bank capitalized on a boom in mergers and acquisitions and generated robust fees from advising on deals.
The Wall Street investment banking powerhouse posted huge annual profits on the back of a record-breaking year for mergers and acquisitions.
Like rivals Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley rode the dealmaking wave and advised on several major business combinations, underwrote some of the biggest stock market flotations and helped put together deals involving special purpose acquisition companies.
Profit rose to $3.59 billion, or $2.01 per share, in the quarter ended December 31, from $3.27 billion, or $1.81 per share, a year earlier.
Despite the blow from trading, Morgan Stanley’s earnings came in ahead of expectations.
Analysts on average were expecting the bank to report a profit of $1.91 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Revenue rose to $14.52 billion on for the quarter compared with $13.59 billion in the year-ago period.
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