Morgan Stanley Maintains Equal-Weight on Prudential

In a recent note, Morgan Stanley reiterates its Equal-weight on Prudential PRU as it believes share prices will outperform industry over the next two months. Morgan Stanley notes, "This is because of an earnings release. We believe the stock is a key life insurance name to own headed into the fourth quarter earnings season. We expect the positive impact of rising equity markets in the fourth quarter to drive results well ahead of street expectations. Further, we also believe there is strong likelihood the company will continue to repurchase stock at an accelerated pace, in order to get ahead of potentially more restrictive rules regarding payout ratios in the future should the company be designated as systemically important. Last, over the past several months, the stock has modestly lagged its peers, rising less than 2% since the beginning of November, versus over 5% for the peer group." PRU closed at $55.11 per share on Thursday.