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Back of Napkin

Morgan Stanley MS

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Morgan Stanley's balance sheet grew $310B in three quarters, from $1.36T to $1.68T, against $6B of additional common equity.

Wealth clients handed it $148.1B of new money in the June quarter alone, two and a half times the year before.

MS · price with moving averages

Daily · 6MWeekly · 3Y
$58$102$147$191$235 Sep '23Apr '24Nov '24Jun '25Jan '26Aug '26 BID
EMAs82140

Source: market data.

The business

Three businesses under one roof, and the ratio between them is the whole story of the last decade. Institutional Securities is the investment bank: advising on deals, underwriting them, and running the desks that make markets in everything. Wealth Management holds money for individuals through financial advisers and takes a fee on the balance. Investment Management runs funds.

James Gorman spent fifteen years shrinking the first relative to the second, because a fee on someone's retirement account arrives every quarter regardless of whether anyone wants to issue a bond. Ted Pick has kept that shape while the capital markets came back, which is why both halves are working at once for the first time in years.

Inside the complete Back of Napkin

  1. 01The business
  2. 02The numbers
  3. 03Management
  4. 04How it fails or surprises you
  5. 05The shape of the payoff
  6. 06Closing thoughts
  7. 07Methodology

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