Morgan Stanley earns $1.45 per share in Q1, beating estimates by 42 cents

John J. Mack, Chairman and CEO, said, “Despite turbulent markets, Morgan Stanley achieved strong performance across many of our businesses this quarter – delivering a Firmwide ROE of 20 percent - and continued taking important steps to position the Firm for growth as we move forward in 2008. We achieved strong results across our equities and fixed income sales and trading businesses this quarter, as we effectively capitalized on market opportunities and aggressively managed our positions. We also delivered another solid quarter in investment banking and wealth management. While many of our businesses are facing challenging market conditions that we expect to continue in the months ahead, we are satisfied with how Morgan Stanley navigated the ongoing market turbulence. Our people remain intensely focused on continuing to serve our clients, building out our global franchise and executing our growth plans in order to create long-term value for Morgan Stanley’s shareholders.”

Shares of MS are bid 5% higher in extended trading.