Morgan Stanley $MS rises 1.2% as Q1 EPS hits $3.43; trading revenue reaches $8.5B

Morgan Stanley $MS was up 1.2% in U.S. trading at 12:52 UTC on April 15 after the bank reported first-quarter EPS of $3.43 and revenue of $20.58 billion, above the LSEG consensus of $3.00 and $19.72 billion cited by CNBC. In its 1Q 2026 earnings release, Morgan Stanley said net income rose to $5.567 billion from $4.315 billion a year earlier and described the period as a "record quarter."

The biggest driver was trading. CNBC reported equities revenue climbed 25% to a record $5.15 billion, about $450 million above the StreetAccount estimate, while fixed-income revenue rose 29% to $3.36 billion, roughly $540 million above expectations. Morgan Stanley's own filing shows Institutional Securities revenue reached $10.721 billion, with commodities activity benefiting from energy-market volatility and prime brokerage and derivatives supporting the equities side.

The rest of the franchise also carried more weight than a pure trading story would suggest. Investment-banking revenue increased 36% to $2.116 billion as completed M&A, equity underwriting and debt issuance improved. Wealth-management revenue rose 16% to a record $8.519 billion, and the firm reported $118.4 billion of net new assets plus $53.7 billion of fee-based flows. That mix matters because it points to durable fee income, not just a one-quarter volatility windfall.

For bank investors, the read-through is that Morgan Stanley converted a volatile macro tape into cleaner earnings leverage than some peers. Return on tangible common equity reached 27.1%, while the efficiency ratio improved to 65%. Fixed-income strength also underlines how energy and commodity swings are still feeding client hedging and trading demand across Wall Street even as deal activity reopens.

The next checkpoint is whether advisory and underwriting keep recovering into the June quarter and whether the nearly $8.5 billion combined trading haul can stay elevated if oil volatility cools. Investors will also watch whether wealth-management balances and fee-based flows remain strong enough to offset any moderation in markets revenue. For now, the quarter argues Morgan Stanley is entering the rest of 2026 with robust client engagement rather than a one-off spike.

Not investment advice. Verify all figures with primary sources before acting.