Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC) released their fourth quarter earnings results before opening bell. Morgan Stanley posted adjusted earnings of 43 cents per share and revenue of $7.7 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 33 cents per share and $7.6 billion. In last year’s fourth quarter, the firm reported revenue of $7.8 billion.

Bank of America posted earnings of 28 cents per share and revenue of $19.8 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 26 cents per share and revenue of $20 billion. In last year’s fourth quarter, the bank reported earnings of 25 cents per share and $18.73 billion in revenue.

Morgan Stanley swings to profit

Morgan Stanley’s earnings including DVA were 39 cents per share, compared to last year’s loss of 91 cents per share. Annualized return on average common equity was 4.4%. Excluding DVA, it was 4.9%. The fourth quarter revenue result included a negative impact from changes in the firm’s debt-related credit spreads.

The Institutional Securities unit returned net revenues of $3.5 billion, excluding DVA. Morgan Stanley reported that its Equity division remained strong in sales and trading, while the Investment Banking unit also returned solid results. The Fixed Income and Commodities division saw weakness in trading and sales.

The firm’s Wealth Management business recorded $3.8 billion in net revenues with a pretax margin of 20% and fee-based asset flows of $11.4 billion. Net revenues for the Investment Management business amounted to $621 million. Assets under management or super vision for the segment were $406 billion.

The firm said that as of December, its pro forma fully phased-in Common Equity Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio was about 14.1%. while its Supplementary Leverage ratio was approximately 5.8%.

Shares of Morgan Stanley climbed by as much as 3.47% to $26.85 per share in premarket trading this morning.

Bank of America returns solid results

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