Yahoo Finance Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript April 16, 2024
Morgan Stanley isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Operator: Good morning. Welcome to Morgan Stanley's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. On behalf of Morgan Stanley, I will begin the call with the following information and disclaimer. This call is being recorded. During today's presentation, we will refer to our earnings release and financial supplements, copies of which are available at morganstanley.com. Today's presentation may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Morgan Stanley does not undertake to update the forward-looking statements in this discussion. Please refer to our notices regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures that appear in the earnings release. This presentation may not be duplicated or reproduced without our consent. I will now turn the call over to Chief Executive Officer, Ted Pick.
Ted Pick: Good morning, and happy spring in New York. Thank you for joining us. We entered 2024 with optimism, encouraged by improving boardroom confidence and an increasingly positive tone from our institutional and wealth management clients, the quarter was strong. We generated $15 billion of revenue, a 71% efficiency ratio, $2.02 in earnings per share and a 20% return on tangible equity. In a relatively constructive environment, these results highlight the power of our clear and consistent strategy, serving as trusted advisor to our clients, helping them raise, allocate and manage capital. During the quarter, higher asset prices and an improved economic backdrop supported confidence with our wealth management client base.
We saw greater activity both in the advisor based and self-directed channels, resulting in higher adjusted margins of 27%. Net new assets grew by $95 billion. Investment Management also generated positive long-term flows in the quarter. Across both wealth and investment management, total client assets grew to $7 trillion advancing toward our $10 trillion goal. As the new issue calendar returned for the first time in a number of quarters, it was great to see us regain our leadership position in equity capital markets. More broadly, we saw building momentum in investment banking, both in our M&A and underwriting pipelines across corporate and financial sponsor clients. [Audio Gap] both generated very solid results to round out a strong quarter in institutional securities.
As ever, we remain focused on managing our resources, sweating the income statement and being judicious with our capital. Our CET1 ratio was 15.1%. Our excess capital position allows us to support our clients, invest in our businesses and return capital to our shareholders, particularly as regulators continue to evaluate Basel III endgame. Additional regulatory clarity and a sustained capital markets recovery should have a multiplier effect across our global franchise, further unlocking the unique power of our integrated firm. I wanted to touch on the topic of client onboarding and monitoring in the wealth business with 3 short observations. First, this quarter's wealth management results speak for themselves with record revenues and strong metrics across the board, including strong margins and very strong net new assets.
We are really pleased with this terrific performance and we are going to keep ongoing. Second, this is not a new matter. We've been focused on our client onboarding and monitoring processes for a good while. We have ongoing communications with our regulators, as all the large banks do. As James said in January, we want to ensure we continue to be world class in every aspect of this growing business. And third, to be clear, this is about processes. We have been spending time, effort and money for multiple years, and it is ongoing. We've been on it. And the costs associated with this are largely in the expense run rate. To conclude, the first quarter of 2024 aligns with the goals outlined in the January strategy deck: $15 billion of revenue, a 71% efficiency ratio, $2 of earnings, $7 trillion of client assets, and a 20% return on tangible.
We have strong backlogs and momentum in every part of the firm. While the pipelines are healthy, there remains a backdrop of economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Our job is to generate these kinds of durable results on a consistent basis. I'm very optimistic what lies ahead for Morgan Stanley. And on behalf of our 2,300 Managing Directors and 80,000 employees, say to those listening to the call, we will deliver an integrated firm to clients and shareholders that is unmatched in both its integrity and in its intensity. Now, I'll turn it over to our excellent CFO, Sharon Yeshaya to discuss the quarter in more detail.
Sharon Yeshaya: Thank you, and good morning. In the first quarter, the firm produced revenues of $15.1 billion. Our EPS was $2.02 and our ROTCE was 19.7%. Our model is working as intended. The first quarter results demonstrate the strength of our scaled business and an improving backdrop. Benefits of durable revenues, particularly asset management fees in the wealth management business, stronger capital markets and a continued focus on managing the full income statement, all contributed to results. The firm's first quarter efficiency ratio was 71%, illustrating the inherent operating leverage in the model and our ongoing efforts to consolidate our expense base following multiple years of integration. Efforts are evidenced by the year-over-year reduction in professional services and marketing and business development spend, lower legal expenses further supported the improvement in efficiency ratio.
Now to the businesses. Institutional securities revenues of $7 billion were up 3% versus the prior year, reflecting strong performance across businesses. First quarter revenues underscore the power of the integrated firm as our cross divisional collaboration positioned us to capitalize on market opportunities. The geographical breadth continues to distinguish our franchise and puts us at the center of client activity as the backdrop improves across regions. Investment banking revenues were $1.4 billion for the first quarter, up 16% from the prior year. A pickup in both equity and fixed income underwriting supported results, offsetting the year-over-year decline in advisory. Leading indicators continued to progress positively, including the preliminary reemergence of sponsor activity.
Advisory revenues of $461 million reflected a decline in completed M&A transactions. Equity underwriting revenues of $430 million more than doubled versus the prior year as IPO markets reopened for most of the quarter alongside conducive markets for follow-ons. Our global reach supported our ability to lead cross-border transactions, and we regained our premier leadership position in equity underwriting lead tables as global market volumes picked up. Fixed income underwriting increased year over year to $556 million, results were driven by strength in investment grade and noninvestment grade bond issuance as clients took advantage of tighter credit spreads. Looking ahead, we expect the steady build of this business to continue. We are encouraged by the health of the advisory and underwriting pipelines.
While the uncertainty of the rate path and geopolitical developments may impact the near-term conversion of pipeline to realized, conditions should improve over time and the underlying trends suggest that confidence is increasing. We remain focused on expanding our reach through opportunistic hires, particularly as we continue to see diverse pipeline and increased sponsor activity. Turning to Equity, we continue to be a global leader in this business. Revenues were strong increasing 4% from the prior year to $2.8 billion. Results were supported by performance in derivatives and cash, and the franchise benefited from the scale of our prime brokerage business. Cash revenues increased year-over-year, reflecting broad based strength in equity markets across the region.
Performance in Japan was particularly strong supported by higher volumes. Our increased coverage augmented by our longstanding and unique partnership with MUFG should be supportive over time. Derivative revenues were robust as the business navigated the market environment well and client activity was strong. Prime Brokerage revenues were solid as client balances increased back towards all-time highs on higher market levels. Results reflect the mix of client balances and narrower spreads. Fixed income revenues were $2.5 billion results declined slightly compared to the strong result last year. Recall, last year's result benefited from increased client engagement on the back of idiosyncratic events, including those related to the U.S. regional banks.
Client demand for corporate solutions acted as a partial offset, reflecting the strength of our integrated franchise. Macro and micro revenues declined modestly year-over-year on lower volatility and client activity, which resulted in less transactional flow. Results in commodities increased year-over-year, supported by higher revenues in the North America Power and Gas business. Turning to Wealth Management. The business delivered strong results across all key metrics, demonstrating the continued power and differentiation of the engine we have built. Record revenues increased from the prior year to $6.9 billion driven by record asset management fees from both a rising market and ongoing success in migrating clients to advisory relationships to better serve their needs.
Transactional revenues, excluding DCP, were also strong as retail sentiment improved alongside institutional investors. Importantly, net interest income remained in line sequentially. Pre-tax profit was $1.8 billion and the PBT margin was 26.3%. Together, DCP and the FDIC special assessment impacted the margin by approximately 115 basis points. The results highlight the inherent operating leverage embedded in the business, particularly as revenues rise on the back of cumulative strong fee-based flows as clients invest more in higher beta assets and transactional activity rebounds. Net new assets for the quarter were strong at $95 billion with contributions from multiple channels including our family office offering. Over time, our ability to deliver unique solutions to clients should continue to attract assets and lead to share capture.
Fee-based flows of $26 billion were strong. Within fee-based flows this quarter, we saw particular strength from the migration of assets from the advisor led brokerage accounts to fee-based accounts. This demonstrates that over time, assets migrate through the funnel into recurring revenue generating accounts. Fee-based assets now stand at over $2 trillion. Asset Management revenues were $3.8 billion, up 13% year-over-year, primarily reflecting higher market levels and the cumulative impact of strong fee-based flows. Transactional revenues were $1 billion and excluding the impact of DCP, were up 9% versus the prior year. The first quarter's results were driven by client engagement across products, including record activity in structured products.
Investments in our platform allow us to support increased client demand. Bank lending balances were $147 billion, up slightly quarter-over-quarter, reflecting modest growth in mortgages. Total deposits of $347 billion were roughly flat quarter-over-quarter as the decline in sweep balances was offset by continued demand for our savings offering. While sweep balances were down on a spot-to-spot basis, average sweeps were roughly in line with last quarter, broadly consistent with our modeled expectations. Net interest income was $1.9 billion flat to the fourth quarter's results, consistent with our guidance. The moderate increase in average deposit cost was offset by several factors, including the reinvestments of assets at higher market rates.
Looking ahead to the second quarter, the deposit mix will continue to be the primary driver of NII. Assuming the current forward curve and that our assumptions around client behavior materialize, we would expect NII in the second quarter to again be roughly in line with the first quarter. Our strategy is working. We have a clear path to $10 trillion in client assets across wealth management and investment management. We remain focused on supporting clients on their path to advice, deepening existing client relationships and using our scaled platform to achieve sustainable 30% pretax profits over time. Investment Management reported revenues of $1.4 billion increasing 7% versus the prior year. Results reflect higher asset management revenues, which increased 8% year-over-year, driven by growth in average AUM on higher market levels.
Total AUM increased to $1.5 trillion, long-term net flows were strong at $7.6 billion inflows were driven by strengths in alternatives and solutions and reflect the benefits of our diversified product offering. Within alternatives and solutions, demand for parametric customized portfolios was robust as retail clients, including our own wealth management clients, allocated investments to Parametric's equity based products, underscoring the value of the integrated model. Flows were further supported by global interest in our active fixed income strategies. Liquidity and overlay services had out close of $12.9 billion. Performance based income and other revenues were $31 million. Gains in U.S. private equity and private credit offset lowered accrued carried interest in Asia private equity and real estate demonstrating the benefits of a global diversified platform.
We are seeing the benefits of ongoing investments in this business. We remain focused on customization, private credit and our global distribution. Parametric, in particular, has allowed us to deliver the integrated firm, evidenced by the ongoing demand from our wealth management client base. Turning to the balance sheet. Total spot assets were $1.2 trillion. Our standardized CET1 ratio was 15.1%, down 14 basis points from the prior quarter. Standardized RWAs increased quarter-over-quarter as we actively supported our clients in more constructive markets. We continue to deliver our commitment to return capital to our shareholders, buying back $1 billion of common stock during the quarter. Our tax rate was 21% for the quarter. The vast majority of share based award conversion takes place in the first quarter resulting in a lower tax rate.
We continue to expect our 2024 tax rate to be approximately 23%, which similar to prior years will exhibit some quarter to quarter volatility. The first quarter is clear evidence that as the backdrop improves, our franchise is strategically positioned to capture upside as it was designed to do. With client assets at a record of $7 trillion across Wealth and Investment Management, we are on strong footing. Our Wealth Management business continues to focus on growth as well as supporting our clients with advice in delivering our differentiated offering, and our institutional franchise is supported by our scale and our global footprint. This combined with the build of the investment banking pipelines and market confidence provides us with momentum to deliver on our objectives over time.
With that, we will now open the line up to questions.
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