Morgan Stanley quarterly profit nearly doubles

NEW YORK - Morgan Stanley's (MS) third-quarter net income nearly doubled, helped by strength in its institutional securities and wealth management divisions.

The investment bank earned $1.71 billion, up from $889 million in the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share were 84 cents per share, compared with 45 cents a year earlier.

Excluding a one-time tax benefit of 12 cents per share and accounting adjustments, per-share earnings were 65 cents, easily topping Wall Street expectations for 54 cents per share.

Net revenue rose to $8.9 billion from $7.95 billion a year ago, also breezing past analyst projections for $8.17 billion.

Shares rose around 4 percent before the opening bell Friday.

Morgan Stanley had a large increase in pretax income for its institutional securities business, which includes the firm's prime brokerage, trading and investment banking divisions. It also had a large increase in its equity underwriting business, which has been helped by initial public offerings, including that of Alibaba (BABA), the largest IPO ever including options offered to underwriters.

Institutional securities earned $1.2 billion in the quarter, versus $396 million in the same period a year earlier.

Wealth management, which includes Morgan Stanley's Smith Barney franchise, reported a pretax profit of $836 million, up from $668 million a year ago.

Morgan Stanley's stock rose $1.22 to $33.75 in premarket trading.