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Morgan Stanley (MS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest market close, Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) reached $87.05, with a +0.13% movement compared to the previous day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.12%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.61%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.54%.

Shares of the investment bank witnessed a gain of 0.08% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Finance sector with its gain of 4.07% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.06%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Morgan Stanley in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on April 16, 2024. In that report, analysts expect Morgan Stanley to post earnings of $1.72 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 1.18%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $14.53 billion, up 0.12% from the prior-year quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.37 per share and a revenue of $56.88 billion, representing changes of +16.67% and +5.05%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Morgan Stanley should also be noted by investors. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.02% higher. At present, Morgan Stanley boasts a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note Morgan Stanley's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 13.66. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 17.17 for its industry.

Meanwhile, MS's PEG ratio is currently 1.76. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. MS's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.15 as of yesterday's close.

The Financial - Investment Bank industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 24, putting it in the top 10% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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