Morgan Stanley (MS) nearly doubled its net income in the third quarter, the company said early Friday. It had a profit of $1.65 billion, or $0.84 per share, up 87% from a year ago, when it reported a profit of $880 billion, or $0.45 per share.
Revenue expanded 12% year over year to $8.9 billion, a 3% improvement from the prior period. Both sales and net income beat analysts’ estimates for Q3’14.
“Morgan Stanley has delivered another quarter of earnings growth and strong performance based on consistent execution for our clients,” said Chairman and CEO James Gorman in a statement. “We are well positioned to create superior returns for our shareholders, particularly as the U.S. economy continues to strengthen.”
The Institutional Securities unit had net revenues, excluding debt-valuation adjustment, of $4.3 billion, which the company says reflected “continued strength in Investment Banking and Equity sales and trading and improved results in Fixed Income and Commodities sales and trading.”
Wealth Results
Wealth Management net revenues were nearly $3.8 billion in the third quarter, a 9% jump from a year ago and a 2% increase from the prior quarter. Net income improved 17% year over year and 6% from Q2’14 to $501 million.
This bumped the group’s pretax margin up to 22% vs. 21% in Q2’14 and 19% in Q3’14.
As for advisor headcount, Morgan Stanley had 16,162 registered reps as of Sept. 30, a slight drop from 16,316 in Q2’14 and 16,517 in Q3’13.