Key Takeaways Morgan Stanley easily beat fourth-quarter profit and revenue estimates on strong equity trading and IPO activity.Equity net revenue was up 51% year-over-year, and equity underwriting revenue soared about 100%.

Morgan Stanley said its profit more than doubled in the fourth quarter, fueled by its investment banking and trading businesses. Profit surged 145% to $3.71 billion. That amounted to $2.22 per share,

Morgan Stanley’s stock outpaced gains in other financial stocks Thursday, after the bank and broker forecast a robust flow of deals as it beat both profit and revenue expectations for the latest quarter.

The bank's massive wealth management business will be helped by high stock market values in the fourth quarter, which inflates the management fees it collects.

Morgan Stanley's profit increased in the fourth quarter, fueled by a wave of dealmaking and stock sales that drove its revenue to a full-year record. Investment banking fees gained from a surge in mergers and acquisitions as sentiment was boosted by a strong U.

Morgan Stanley’s institutional securities group, which houses its investment banking and trading businesses, reported revenue of $7.3 billion in the fourth quarter, a 49% jump from $4.9 billion a year earlier.