Making comparisons between two companies can often be a bit tricky. Such is the case when looking at the second-quarter results of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
Still, looking at the numbers does shed light on how the firms are performing in different areas.
Which group has more money?
Merrill Lynch advisors have about $2.2 trillion as of June 30, 2017, vs. $2.24 trillion at Morgan Stanley.
But when assets at US Trust are combined with those of Merrill, the Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management group, the unit has some $2.62 trillion.
Which group has more advisors?
Morgan Stanley has 15,777 in its advisor ranks vs. 14,811 at Merrill Lynch. If Merrill's consumer banking advisors — which number 2,206 — are included, its ranks swell to 17,017.
Merrill says it added 254 reps in the latest quarter and is up 231 from a year ago, while Morgan Stanley says its headcount was flat vs. the earlier period and is down 132 from a year ago.
How about average fees and commissions?
Morgan Stanley's advisors have 12-month-trailing production of $1,050,00 as of June 30 vs. $1,040,000 for Merrill's Thundering Herd. But Merrill also shares the performance of its veteran advisors (which excludes the production of the 3,000 reps in its training program): $1,350,000.
Morgan Stanley says the average level of assets per advisor is $142 million. Merrill doesn't provide that figure.
Which firm is better in terms of total revenues, net income and profit margins?
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management had sales of $4.15 billion in Q2'17 vs. $3.87 billion for Merrill Lynch and $4.70 billion for BofA Global Wealth (which includes US Trust).
