Morgan Stanley Model Gets Little Respect as Gorman Defies Slide
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Morgan Stanley, owner of the world’s biggest brokerage, is struggling to prove its new model works after failing to ride a surge in equity and bond markets.
The firm’s post-crisis strategy of relying more on its 18,000 brokers and less on debt-fueled risk-taking has yet to lure investors to the stock, which slid 8 percent last year, underperforming rivals. As the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 13 percent and corporate bonds returned almost 11 percent in 2010, analysts cut estimates for the bank’s full-year earnings.