Nomura Securities Maintains a 'Neutral' on Morgan Stanley (MS); Meeting with Management

Nomura Securities maintains a 'Neutral' on Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) price target of $20.00.

Nomura analyst, Glenn Schorr, said, "We recently met with Greg Fleming, President of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Andy Saperstein, Head of US Wealth Management. Highlights include: Assuming the backdrop stays about the same (1,250 S&P 500, low interest rates) management laid out a path to achieve mid-teens pretax margins by mid-2013 by: 1) reducing integration-related technology costs; 2) improving headcount efficiency; 3) growing fee-based assets on the advisory platform; 4) increasing lending revenue; 5) doing a better job connecting with Morgan’s investment bank. Management reiterated that a 100 point change in the S&P 500 and a 50 bps change in the Fed Funds rate each impact the pretax margin by ~100 bps. Given our expectation for mid-single digit ROEs, we think MS will continue to trade at a discount to tangible book value and we remain Neutral."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Morgan Stanley click here. For more ratings news on Morgan Stanley click here.

Shares of Morgan Stanley closed at $16.36 yesterday.

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Freedom Broker Upgrades PrimeEnergy Resource (PNRG) to Hold
• Benchmark Reiterates Speculative Buy Rating on Milestone Scientific (MLSS)
• BofA Securities Reiterates Buy Rating on Micron Technology (MU); Sees $230+ in EPS by FY30