Morgan Stanley Fixed Income report q2 2011

Morgan Stanley Fixed Income Revenue report q2 2011 ; Morgan Stanley reported a second-quarter loss related to the restructuring of a major investment it received during the financial crisis. But the resurgent investment bank posted revenue that beat Wall Street estimates on strength across its investment-banking, trading and wealth-management units.

The investment bank reported a $558 million second-quarter loss after a $1.7 billion charge, equal to $1.02 per share, from its conversion of the preferred stock held by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., which closed during the quarter.

But Morgan Stanley's second quarter was marked more by its revenue of $9.3 billion, which dwarfed the $7.3 billion net revenue reported by its closest rival, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. It has been years since Morgan Stanley reported higher quarterly revenue than Goldman Sachs.

The improved performance across the firm may appease shareholders who have watched Morgan Stanley's stock tumble 15% this year following general weakness in banks. The quarter also reflects gains in Chief Executive James Gorman's pledge to shift the investment bank away from proprietary businesses to client businesses.

Morgan Stanley showed life in its trading, particularly in fixed income, currencies, and commodities, or FICC, an area where Goldman revealed a rare stumble on Tuesday.

Within FICC, Morgan Stanley reported revenue of $1.9 billion, up from $1.7 billion, excluding a debt-valuation adjustment reflecting improving credit at Morgan Stanley. Bond trading at Morgan Stanley was nearly flat with the first quarter, while it fell 63% sequentially at Goldman.

Morgan Stanley put more money on the line in its trading operations last quarter, bucking Goldman's decision to lower trading risk. Morgan's value-at-risk rose 4% on the year in the second quarter to $145 million and jumped 20% sequentially. Putting more money at risk might have helped Morgan Stanley mop up revenue in areas that Goldman missed out on.

The improved performance in FICC follows recent leadership changes in the business at Morgan Stanley, which in January appointed Ken deRegt as global head of fixed-income sales and trading, excluding commodities.

In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said the firm has "upside in [fixed income] given where we are starting from," adding that more clients are "identifying us as a preferred source."

Morgan Stanley also recorded its highest revenue in mergers and acquisitions and equity sales and trading since the financial crisis. Revenue in those operations climbed to $533 million and $1.9 billion, respectively. Fixed-income underwriting was the highest in the firm's history, at $521 million.

In a memo to employees Thursday, Mr. Gorman said, "we have accomplished a great deal," but added, "there is still more to do to realize the full potential of our global franchise."

In the quarter, earnings attributable to Morgan Stanley, a measure that excludes the Mitsubishi charge, fell 39% to $1.19 billion. Net revenue rose 17%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecast a per-share loss of 64 cents on $8.04 billion in revenue.

In global wealth management, Morgan Stanley reported its highest revenue and financial-adviser productivity since the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture was formed.

Revenue in the unit rose 13% to $3.5 billion, from $3.1 billion a year earlier, as the business added $2.9 billion in net new assets. Pretax profit margin dropped sequentially to 9%, though Ms. Porat said the fall was mainly due to a Federal Desposit Insurance Corp. charge. Morgan Stanley is targeting a margin of 20%.

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