Morgan Stanley posted a solid quarter because the bank does not have any direct exposure to the home lending market. Both J.P. Morgan and Bank of America suffered from lower revenues and profits in their mortgage operations. To say nothing of the latter’s continuing settlement payments related to its acquisition of Countrywide. Morgan Stanley has now posted a profit — and beat earnings estimates — in five consecutive quarters.
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The bank doubled its quarterly dividend payment to $0.10 a share, payable in May to shareholders of record on April 30.
Morgan Stanley’s Basel III common equity tier 1 ratio was 14.1%, and its tier 1 capital ratio was about 15.6%. The bank’s tangible book value per common share at the end of the quarter was $27.41, based on approximately 2 billion shares outstanding.
The bank did not provide guidance in its earnings release. The consensus estimate for second-quarter EPS is $0.63 on revenues of $8.74 billion. For the full year, the consensus calls for EPS of $2.40 on revenues of $34.23 billion.
The bank’s CEO said:
This quarter we generated higher year-over-year revenues in all three of our business segments, demonstrating the momentum we have built across the Firm. We continue to execute on our multi-year strategy to deliver consistent returns for our shareholders through revenue growth and strong expense discipline. We are pleased that this year we will commence a further share repurchase of up to $1 billion and double our dividend.
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Shares traded about 2.6% in the premarket Thursday to $30.68. The current 52-week range is $20.16 to $33.52. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $33.72 before these results were announced.
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