Fourth-quarter 2019 earnings results through Jan. 24 show a mixed bag for investment banks and brokers and outperformance for asset managers, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
State Street Corp. exceeded earnings estimates by 17.2% and reported normalized EPS of $1.98, as compared to a mean estimate of $1.69. BlackRock Inc. beat estimates with $8.34 in actual normalized EPS against the mean EPS estimate of $7.78.
Investment company Saratoga Investment Corp. and investment banking giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported the biggest misses, underperforming estimates by 20.7% and 14.6%, respectively. However, Morgan Stanley exceeded analyst expectations and reported actual normalized EPS of $1.39 as compared to $1.02.
The second week of earnings showed specialty finance firms reporting positive results.
Navient Corp. reported the biggest beat, followed by Capital One Financial Corp. and Synchrony Financial. Navient beat analyst estimates by 15.5% with reported normalized EPS of 67 cents, whereas Capital One Financial reported an actual normalized EPS of $2.49 compared to the mean EPS estimate of $2.35.
Asset manager Northern Trust Corp. also delivered a positive performance, beating estimates by 8.6%. Cohen & Steers Inc. reported an actual normalized EPS of 74 cents, beating estimates by 8.8%.
Investment banks and brokers continued to underperform analysts' projections. Retail brokerage heavyweights TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. and E*TRADE Financial Corp. missed analyst expectations by 5.1% and 8.4%, respectively.
