Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Technology > Investment Platforms > Turnkey Asset Management

Morgan Stanley Tops Estimates; Advisors Attract $15.5B of Inflows: Q3 Earnings

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Morgan Stanley (MS) said Tuesday that it had net income of $2.2 billion, or $1.14 per share, from continuing operations compared with income of $314 million, or $0.05 per share, for the same period a year ago, beating analysts’ estimates.

Net revenues were $9.9 billion for the current quarter compared with $6.8 billion a year ago. Results for the quarter included revenue of $3.4 billion, or $1.12 per share, compared with negative revenue of $731 million a year ago related to changes in Morgan Stanley’s debt-related credit spreads and other credit factors, such as a debt valuation adjustment.

For the current quarter, net income applicable to Morgan Stanley, including discontinued operations, was $1.15 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $0.07 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2010.

The wealth-management group had net revenues of $3.3 billion, with net new assets for the quarter of $15.5 billion, a record since the inception of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture (MSSB), according to the company, and net flows in fee-based accounts of $10.1 billion.

The quarter’s pre-tax margin improved to 11% from 9% a year ago and in the previous quarter.

“Morgan Stanley effectively navigated turbulent markets while consolidating our market share gains with institutional clients and demonstrating resilience across the global wealth-management business as evidenced by record net new assets flows since the formation of MSSB,” said President and CEO James P. Gorman, in a statement.

Wealth Management

The wealth-management unit — which continues to prune lower-producing advisors — had pre-tax income from continuing operations of $362 million in the third quarter, up 12% from the previous quarter and 29% from the year-ago period. 

Income after the noncontrolling interest allocation to Citigroup for the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture, $52 million, and before taxes was $310 million.

Net income after these adjustments and taxes was $169 million in the third quarter, representing a 6% drop from the second quarter but a 17% increase for the year-ago period.

Net revenues of $3.3 billion declined 6% from last quarter but increased 5% from $3.1 billion a year ago “primarily reflecting higher asset management revenues and commissions partly offset by net losses from investments associated with the firm’s deferred compensation and co-investment plans,” the company said in a press release.

Revenues from commissions and fees were $670 million in the period ended Sept. 30 vs. $689 million in the second quarter, representing a decline of 3%, and $564 million in the year-ago quarter, accounting for a jump of 19%.

Sales from asset-management, distribution and related activities totaled $1.78 billion in the third quarter, a slight drop from the second quarter and an increase of 16% from last year.

Advisor Headcount, Asset Flows

The number of financial advisors in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney was 17,291 as of September 30, a 2% drop from 17,638 on June 30 and a 5% decline from 18,119 a year ago.

Average annualized revenue (or fees and commissions) per advisor totaled $747,000 vs. $785,000 in the second quarter and $686,000 in the third quarter of 2010.

Rival Merrill Lynch reported Tuesday that it had 16,722 financial advisors as of Sept. 30, each with about $854,000 in average yearly fees and commissions based on the third quarter’s results.

Assets under management per Morgan Stanley FA averaged $90 million in the third quarter, down from $97 million in the second quarter but up from $88 million for the year-ago quarter.

Total assets under management for Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management unit were $1.56 trillion as of Sept. 30 vs. $1.71 trillion in Q2 and $1.60 trillion a year ago.  (Merrill Lynch said its total AUM was $1.54 trillion in the third quarter.)

Net new retail assets ballooned to $15.5 billion in the third quarter from $2.9 billion last quarter and $5 billion a year ago. Fee-based net new assets were $10.1 billion as of Sept. 30 vs. $9.7 billion as of June 30 and $4.8 billion in the year-earlier period.

This represents average net new assets per FA of $896,420 overall and fee-based net new assets per FA of $584,119, up from $164,000 and $549,949 respectively in the second quarter and $275,953 and $264,915 a year ago.

For more Q3 news, go to AdvisorOne’s Earnings Calendar for the Finance Sector.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.