Earnings Preview: Morgan Stanley

NEW YORK (AP) — Morgan Stanley is scheduled to report third-quarter financial results on Wednesday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.

OVERVIEW: Trying to bounce back from a second-quarter loss, Morgan Stanley is still grappling with souring investments tied to commercial real estate.

Analysts widely expect the New York-based bank to return to profitability in the third quarter, but it will still probably be forced to cut the value of commercial real estate investments.

Commercial real estate loans are the latest in a wave of lending defaults that started a couple of years ago with residential mortgages given to customers with poor credit history. Morgan Stanley heavily invested in investments backed by commercial real estate, and is likely to take further charges tied to those investments in the third quarter.

Morgan Stanley will look to offset those charges through improving investment banking and trading operations.

Analysts say Morgan Stanley's second-quarter results fell well short of one of its few competitors left standing on Wall Street after the credit crisis, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., because of its more conservative approach to trading. Investors will be looking for any signs of a rebound in Morgan Stanley's trading operations.