The Week Ahead: Financial Giants BlackRock and Morgan Stanley to Report Earnings

Earnings season will be kicking off with reports from big names in the financial sector, including Wells Fargo & Co WFC and JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM on Wednesday. On Thursday, we are on the lookout for reports from Bank of America BAC, BlackRock BLK, and Citigroup C, along with a report from PepsiCo PEP. At the end of the week, Morgan Stanley MS is expected to report earnings. BlackRock closed 2020 with $8.677 trillion in total assets under management, making it one of the largest asset managers in the world. Its iShares platform is the leading domestic and global provider of exchange-traded funds and the firm continues to generate solid organic growth. We do expect U.S.-based asset managers to run into some bumps down the road over the next five to 10 years, but BlackRock has the potential to generate 3%-5% average annual organic AUM growth. PepsiCo maintains its competitive advantage with a diverse portfolio of snacks and beverages, including Frito-Lay and Quaker products. The wide-moat company has made investments toward manufacturing capacity, system capacity, and productivity, which we believe will give Pepsi the strengthen its trademark brands and become more present in growth markets. Despite the global macroeconomic uncertainty, Morgan Stanley held up better than we expected in 2020. With a more stable business model and a shift to wealth management, the narrow-moat bank is emerging as an industry leader.