Profit falls 24 percent

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.

The company added it is still reviewing a potential spinoff of its Discover Financial Services credit card division -- a low-margin business that nonetheless provides Morgan Stanley with strong cash flow.

After the news, shares of Morgan Stanley rose 23 cents to $51.20 in pre-market trading.

Morgan Stanley's statement made no mention of the impending departure of Chairman and Chief Executive Phil Purcell, who last week bowed to pressure to leave the company from a group of disgruntled shareholders and former executives. Purcell said he will retire as soon as a successor is named.

For the quarter ending May 31, Morgan Stanley posted earnings of $928 million, or 86 cents per share, compared to $1.22 billion, or $1.10 per share, in the second quarter a year ago. Net revenues fell 9 percent to $6 billion, compared to $6.8 billion last year.

The company was expected to earn 92 cents per share on $5.7 billion in revenues in the latest quarter, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Morgan Stanley said its legal expenses totaled $140 million for the quarter.