Morgan Stanley profit jumps as trading activity rebounds

By Tanya Agrawal and Lauren Tara LaCapra

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) reported an 87 percent rise in third-quarter earnings as the Wall Street bank's trading, investment banking and wealth management businesses benefited from increased client activity and a hot equity market.

Morgan Stanley's shares rose 3.5 percent to $33.67 (20.93 British pounds) in early trading on Friday as both profit and revenue handily beat analysts' average forecast.

The results show that even though Morgan Stanley has been focusing on its wealth management business since the financial crisis, its traditional investment banking operation can still have a big impact on its earnings.

Morgan Stanley topped the list of IPO underwriters globally in the first nine months of the year, beating main rivals Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N).

Equity underwriting revenue almost doubled to $464 million, helped by a booming market for initial public offerings. Morgan Stanley was among the banks that worked on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's (BABA.N) $25 billion IPO - the biggest in history.

Bond trading revenue, excluding accounting adjustments, jumped 19.4 percent to $997 million after a sudden increase in market volatility last month that also boosted its Wall Street rivals.

Overall institutional securities revenue, which includes trading and investment banking, rose 22 percent to $4.52 billion.

Wealth management revenue rose 9 percent to $3.79 billion, but accounted for 42.5 percent of Morgan Stanley's total revenue, compared with 50.7 percent for the bank's trading and investment banking business.

The business achieved a pretax profit margin of 22 percent, above Chief Executive James Gorman's minimum target of 20 percent and the 21 percent reported for the second quarter.

BONDS COME TO LIFE

After a long period of sluggish activity, the bond market was jolted to life in September by upbeat U.S. economic data, stimulus steps taken in Europe, and the shock exit of trading superstar Bill Gross from bond trading giant Pimco.

But the 19.4 percent growth achieved by Morgan Stanley paled against that of archrival Goldman Sachs. Excluding accounting adjustments, Goldman reported a 53 percent jump in revenue from trading bonds, currencies and commodities.

Like several other big banks, Morgan Stanley has been shrinking its presence in the bond market as tougher capital requirements against risky trading take hold.

That has given Goldman an opportunity to grab market share.

Even with the strong results in the quarter, Morgan Stanley's adjusted return-on-equity slipped to 9 percent, below both the 10 percent minimum Chief Executive James Gorman wants to achieve and the 10.7 percent return in the second quarter.

Net income attributable to common shareholders rose to $1.65 billion, or 84 cents per share, Morgan Stanley said.

On an adjusted basis, the bank earned 65 cents per share, according to calculations by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. On this basis, analysts had expected earnings of 54 cents per share.

Net revenue, excluding accounting adjustments, rose 7 percent to $8.69 billion, beating the average estimate of $8.17 billion.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal and Lauren Tara LaCapra; Editing by Ted Kerr)