Guy Moszkowski Quotations

In terms of investment banking, in terms of capital markets, in terms of investment management, really everything was very positive. Their outlook statement was also quite positive: their backlogs are up compared to where they were last year and they expect to be able to continue to pick up market share.

Unlike in the past, it can't acquire its way out of the growth slowdown.

As this problem is unlikely to resolve itself quickly, we remain concerned that 2006 forecasts could be too aggressive.

To think they're immune would be very imprudent, and I'm sure they'd be the first to agree with me on that. But from everything I can infer, the second quarter is starting out just as strong as the first, and they manage their risk very well. Earnings growth could contract quite a bit if things get bad, but they're well protected from severe loss in most any market environment.

I am not a big proponent of the diversified model. It is extremely hard to manage, and I just think there is a lot of value to be had from focusing on a few things really well. The turnaround process at Morgan Stanley will take some time.

Results were extremely strong in almost every category, with particular strength in fixed income and equity trading, each producing well over $400 million more than we had forecast in revenue, for a total trading 'surprise' of $1BB in revenue.

The recent moves to eliminate the worst-performing 10 percent of brokers and rein in the training program are a good start to improving margins. But these are just the first steps.

The U.S. origination business may be slowing while it is growing in other markets.

Merrill, relative to its historical valuations at this stage of the cycle, is quite cheap. And (the company) will of course enjoy some recovery probably over the next few weeks as it has in the last week, as worries about the interest rate environment subside.

Mergers and acquisitions have been very strong and produced a lot of ancillary financing.