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Brokers' earnings fall |
| Morgan Stanley, Lehman, edge forecasts; Bear
Stearns, A.G. Edwards miss target |
March 21,
2001: 8:36 a.m. ET
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The bear
market took a bite out of some leading brokers' earnings
as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc., Bear Stearns Cos. and A.G. Edwards Inc.
all reported sharply lower profits for the latest
quarter Wednesday.
Bear Stearns and Edwards fell
short of Wall Street forecasts, while Morgan Stanley and
Lehman edged past average estimates. Edwards was
reporting fiscal fourth-quarter results while the other
three released first-quarter results.
Bear
Stearns earned $166.0 million, or $1.10 a diluted share,
before the impact of an accounting change. That's 18
cents below the estimates of analysts surveyed by
earnings tracker First Call, and down 40 percent from
the $278.2 million, or $1.89 a share, it earned a year
earlier.
St. Louis-based Edwards saw
profits fall to $45.9 million, or 57 cents a diluted
share. That missed the 64-cent EPS forecast from First
Call and was well off the $100.8 million, or $1.11 a
share, it earned in the year-earlier
period.
Morgan Stanley earnings in its first
quarter fell 30 percent to $1.08 billion, or 94 cents a
diluted share, from $1.54 billion, or $1.34 a share, a
year earlier. But analysts surveyed by earnings tracker
First Call expected only 93 cents in the latest
period.
Lehman said its first-quarter net income
fell to $387 million, or $1.39 a
diluted share, for the period ended Feb. 28, from
$541 million, or $1.84 a share, a year earlier. Wall
Street analysts had forecast $1.37 a share.
Morgan
Stanley (MWD:
Research,
Estimates)
shares fell 30 cents to $56.20 early Wednesday while Lehman's
(LEH:
Research,
Estimates)
stock fell 68 cents to $65.22. Shares of Bear
Stearns (BSC:
Research,
Estimates)
lost 57 cents to $46.18 and AG
Edwards (AGE:
Research,
Estimates)
slipped 44 cents to $35.
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here for a look at financial
stocks
The reports come a day
after Goldman Sachs reported
first quarter earnings well above Wall Street
expectations, due mainly to increasing revenue from
financial advising. However, results were lower than a
year ago as the company suffered losses from
underwriting and its investments in the technology and
telecommunications sectors. 
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