Morgan Stanley Earnings Preview

Morgan Stanley MS is scheduled to report Q4 earnings on Tuesday, January 20, before the market opens.

At Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, analyst Brian Kleinhanzl lowered the firm's 4Q14 EPS estimate from $0.47 to $0.45 "based on the expected impact from trading activity in the quarter.

“Overall, we are expecting respectable results but investors will likely focus on forward guidance rather than 4Q14 results and expectations are high. As a result, we recommend a neutral positioning heading into earnings.”

KBW’s 2014E EPS was also lowered from $2.35 to $2.33. The firm maintained 2015E and 2016E EPS at $3.00 and $3.35, respectively.

KBW maintained a Market Perform rating and $36 price target on the stock.

Credit Suisse analyst Christian Bolu maintained the firm’s core 4Q EPS estimate of $0.53 with reported EPS at $0.70 for the inclusion of several unique items (tax benefit, deferred comp charge).

Credit Suisse maintained a Neutral rating and recently raised its price target to $41.

Ahead of the earnings release, JMP Securities downgraded the stock Monday from Market Outperform to Market Perform.

“We believe earnings growth could remain elevated for the next couple years and we expect capital return to accelerate, which may continue to drive the stock higher; however, we currently see less room in 2015 for an outsized move, as we believe the valuation already contemplates some of these positive elements,” according to analyst Devin Ryan.

Ryan lowered JMP’s FY 2014 estimated EPS from $3.03 to $2.88 and set FY 2015 estimated EPS at $3.15.

Morgan Stanley recently traded at $36.45, down 1.17 percent.