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If You Invested $1000 in Morgan Stanley 10 Years Ago, This Is How Much You'd Have Now

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MS for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Morgan Stanley's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Morgan Stanley's main business drivers.

Founded in 1935 and incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in 1981, Morgan Stanley is the leading financial services holding company headquartered in New York. With 70,975 employees, the company serves a diversified group of clients and customers — including corporations, governments, financial institutions and individuals — through more than 1,200 offices across 41 countries.

The company’s businesses are divided into three segments:

The Institutional Securities ("IS") segment (54% of net revenues in 2020) includes capital raising; financial advisory services that include advices on mergers and acquisitions (M&As), restructurings, real estate and project finance; corporate lending; sales, trading, financing and market-making activities in equity and fixed income securities and related products, including foreign exchange and commodities; benchmark indices and risk management analytics; and investment activities.

The Wealth Management ("WM") segment (39%) provides brokerage and investment advisory services covering various investment alternatives; financial and wealth planning services; annuity and other insurance products; credit and other lending products; cash management services; retirement services; and trust and fiduciary services and engages in fixed income principal trading.

The Investment Management ("IM") segment (7%) provides global asset management products and services in equity, fixed income, alternative investments that include hedge funds and funds of funds, and merchant banking including real estate, private equity and infrastructure, to institutional and retail clients through proprietary and third-party distribution channels. The segment also engages in investment.

In 2019, Morgan Stanley acquired Canada-based Solium Capital Inc. and renamed it as Shareworks by Morgan Stanley. In 2020, the company acquired E*Trade Financial. In March 2021, it acquired Eaton Vance.

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Morgan Stanley a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in May 2011 would be worth $3,568.73, or a 256.87% gain, as of May 19, 2021, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 207.89% and the price of gold increased 20.18% over the same time frame in comparison.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for MS.

Morgan Stanley's shares have outperformed the industry over the past year. The company's earnings have surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters. Its first-quarter 2021 results reflected solid capital markets performance. The buyouts of Eaton Vance and E*Trade Financial are in sync with the company's efforts to focus less on capital markets driven revenue sources. These initiatives, along with increasing focus on corporate lending, are likely to continue supporting financials. Although steadily increasing expenses, low rates and its significant dependence on capital-markets driven revenues make us apprehensive, a strong balance sheet is likely to continue supporting growth. The company’s robust capital deployments reflect solid liquidity position and will continue enhancing shareholder value.

Shares have gained 12.52% over the past four weeks and there have been 7 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2021 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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