Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reported a 9% decrease in Q3 profits to $2.4 billion, or $1.38 per share, outperforming the expected $1.28 per share. The bank's income was impacted by rising bad loan provisions due to worsening conditions in the commercial real estate sector and increased compensation expenses of $5.9 billion. The bank also saw a decline in its investment banking and advisory revenues within the institutional securities division, with pretax income falling from $1.6 billion to $1.2 billion year-on-year due to a slowdown in dealmaking.
Despite these challenges, Morgan Stanley's wealth management division posted nearly 5% rise in net revenue to $6.4 billion, offsetting some of the slump in deal-making and contributing to a 2% rise in total revenue at $13.3 billion. However, net new assets shrank significantly from $64.8 billion a year earlier to $35.7 billion this year.
CEO James Gorman lauded the firm's equity and fixed income businesses for their robust performance amid mixed market conditions, which resulted in higher revenues in both divisions. Nonetheless, fixed income revenues fell by 11%, while equity revenues rose by 2%.
Investment banking revenue dipped 27% to $938 million due to a global slowdown in M&A activity, rising interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainties. The bank missed underwriting opportunities for high-profile IPOs – Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) and Instacart (NASDAQ:CART), negatively impacting revenues.
CFO Sharon Yeshaya pointed out unique capital allocation considerations making their investment banking revenues incomparable with rivals and confirmed that geopolitical uncertainties haven't affected their strong M&A transactions pipeline.
The bank set aside $134 million for credit losses due to deteriorating commercial real estate (CRE) conditions, representing less than 5% of the credit portfolio exposure. Despite the smaller-than-expected profit drop in Q3, the company’s shares were down 2.7% at $78.15 before the bell.
While Morgan Stanley navigates these challenges, it is concurrently dealing with a secret London court battle over a Russian oil firm. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reported a 36% decrease in annual profits, unable to establish alternative revenue streams despite its expensive foray into consumer banking. Like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs benefited from rising income from interest payments.
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