In the latest trading session, Morgan Stanley (MS) closed at $140.69, marking a -0.01% move from the previous day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.24% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.16%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.08%.

Coming into today, shares of the investment bank had gained 2.48% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 3.3%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.37%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Morgan Stanley in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $2.23, indicating a 10.4% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $16.66 billion, up 10.05% from the year-ago period.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $8.56 per share and a revenue of $65.32 billion, indicating changes of +7.67% and +5.77%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Morgan Stanley. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.72% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Morgan Stanley is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

With respect to valuation, Morgan Stanley is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.45. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 14.83.

It's also important to note that MS currently trades at a PEG ratio of 1.24. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. MS's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.09 as of yesterday's close.

The Financial - Investment Bank industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 3, putting it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.

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