Morgan Stanley (MS) Adds 0.6% Ahead of Earnings: What To Watch
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Shares of Morgan Stanley MS added 0.6% during regular hours Tuesday, the last day of trading before it releases its latest quarterly earnings report. Investors displayed excitement ahead of the report, and this is certainly a stock to watch once the full results are in.
The financial sector has performed well thus far in the still-young earnings season. A flattening yield curve had the market concerned about the makings of the next recession, but many investors feel that a still-growing economy, huge revenue boosts and further stock repurchases will add value for firms in the recently trouble financial industry. All eyes will now be on Morgan Stanley to see if it will continue to propel the bulls or instead feed the bears.
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According to our latest Zacks Consensus Estimates, analysts expect Morgan Stanley to report earnings of $1.08 per share on $9.96 billion in revenue. These results would mark year-over-year growth rates of 24.1% and 4.8%, respectively.
Investors should also note that MS’s consensus earnings projection has trended downward over the course of the quarter. Multiple negative revisions have caused the Zacks Consensus Estimate to tick six cents lower in the past 60 days. While revisions for the current quarter and current year have been entirely negative, in the last month some analysts have revised estimates upward for the following quarter and following fiscal year.
This mixed revision activity has contributed to the stock’s Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at share price performance, MS has added about 9.2% over the past year. However, the stock has performed poorly as of late, losing over 6% on a year-to-date basis. More recently, shares have dropped about 7.5% over the trailing 12 weeks.
A strong earnings beat might be what MS needs in order to start turning things around. To gauge how likely the company is to outperform estimates tomorrow morning, we can turn to our exclusive Earnings ESP figure.
Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter. The Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change.
This is done because, generally speaking, when an analyst posts an estimate right before an earnings release, it means that they have fresh information which could potentially be more accurate than what analysts thought about a company two or three months ago.
A positive Earnings ESP paired with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better ranking helps us feel confident about the potential for an earnings beat. In fact, our 10-year backtest has revealed that this methodology has accurately produced a positive surprise 70% of the time.