Morgan Stanley reported decent third-quarter results, with $20.3 billion in revenue and $3.03 in diluted EPS narrowly edging S&P consensus estimates. Shares fell by roughly 3% after the release as investors continue to debate the durability of the current capital markets cycle.
The ability to harness technology investments to improve service levels and lower costs across even sprawling banking footprints could drive meaningful market share capture by the largest global banks.
Bears
After a near-term uptick, equity underwriting volumes could remain perpetually lower, given the high costs of being a public company, disproportionately impacting equity underwriting leaders like Morgan Stanley.
Morgan Stanley is a massive global financial services firm, with offices in 42 countries and more than 82,000 employees as of year-end 2025. While the firm's history is deeply rooted in investment banking and institutional trading, where it maintains a strong presence today, Morgan Stanley now generates the lion share of its income from wealth and asset management franchises, across which it boasted $9.3 trillion in client assets at the end of 2025. After reincorporation as a bank holding company in the wake of the global financial crisis, Morgan Stanley also boasts a top 10 banking franchise by deposits, with more than $400 billion in customer deposits, predominately attributable to cash sweeps from its wealth management and brokerage businesses.