Morgan Stanley (MS) is a financial holding company providing a variety of products and financial services to a group of clients and customers, including corporations, governments, financial institutions and individuals. The stock is currently trading around $39.91 at the upper end of its 52 week range of $31.12-$40.26. The stock has been performing in line with the market this year rising 2.86% year to date. MS is scheduled to report earnings before the opening bell on Monday, and the stock is unchanged today on the session ahead of the close.
Over the past 12 quarters MS has rallied on earnings day 8 times with an average move of 3.49%. The stock appears bullish on a chart going into the release having traded above or in the Ichimoku Cloud for the past few months since mid-April on the daily bars. Over the past 12 quarters MS has rallied from earnings to the nearest options expiration 9 times with an average move of 3.65%. The stock looks as if it could rip to the upside in today’s session following the 3 month trend. Investors are expecting to see how the company performs after reporting 176 deals worth $569 billion. Despite near zero interest rate environments, investors have seen pickup in consumer and commercial loan demand to aid the company’s net interest income.
The options market is currently implying a move of around $1.25 or 3.1% in MS by this Friday’s close giving us targets of $38.66 and $41.16.