The primary half of 2022 was a problem for the inventory market, because the S&P 500 bought off to its worst begin in 52 years. Situations appear to have improved during the last two months, however there are nonetheless alternatives to purchase nice corporations at good costs.

The capital markets business is one space the place yow will discover corporations on sale with good long-term prospects. Corporations on this business have seen their earnings take a success as a consequence of market volatility, and now you should buy shares like Goldman Sachs (GS 0.25%) and Morgan Stanley (MS 1.11%) at dust low-cost costs.

Picture supply: Getty Photographs.

1. Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs supplies funding banking companies to its shoppers and helps them increase cash by capital markets by preliminary public choices (IPOs) and debt issuance.

The funding financial institution was a giant winner in 2021, posting file income due to a torrid tempo of IPOs and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Based on knowledge from FactSet, 1,073 corporations went public by IPOs final yr.

This yr hasn’t been as favorable to the funding financial institution. That very same FactSet knowledge exhibits that solely 92 corporations have gone public this yr, and Goldman’s funding banking unit noticed income decline by 38% within the first half of the yr. 

Corporations had been nervous about making their public debut, solely to see their inventory costs plummet. One of many major causes of market volatility was aggressive rate of interest hikes from the Federal Reserve.

This yr, the federal funds fee went from about 0.25% to 2.5% in simply 5 months. This had markets nervous that the Fed would proceed to extend rates of interest aggressively. Nonetheless, merchants anticipate much less aggressive fee will increase within the again half of this yr into subsequent yr, which may assist markets stabilize. 

Funding banks are cyclical companies, that means they commerce at a decrease valuation as a result of buyers do not anticipate good occasions to proceed perpetually. On the finish of final yr, Goldman traded at a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.5, and at one level this yr, it traded at its most cost-effective valuation in 11 years. Now Goldman trades at a P/E ratio of seven.8, however I’d argue it is a greater worth after its enterprise took a success.

Higher inventory market efficiency in July and August has buyers optimistic that we might have turned a nook. Goldman Sachs is persistently one of many prime funding banks on the earth, and with a strong backlog of offers but to be made, the funding financial institution might be in a wonderful place to capitalize — making the inventory a cut price at its present worth.

2. Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley additionally supplies funding banking companies, however the firm has labored arduous to diversify its income away from funding banking.

In 2009, one yr earlier than James Gorman grew to become CEO, 66% of Morgan Stanley’s income got here from funding banking and buying and selling. At present, 50% of the corporate’s income comes from these sources. The rest comes from wealth administration and funding administration. 

Morgan Stanley’s most vital transfer lately was buying buying and selling platform E*TRADE and asset supervisor Eaton Vance for $20 billion in complete. These acquisitions make Morgan Stanley’s earnings extra resilient, serving to it keep away from a number of the cyclical nature of funding banks.

Sluggish IPO exercise dragged Morgan Stanley’s earnings down, with funding banking income within the first six months falling 46% from final yr. Nonetheless, the agency’s different sources of income grew, together with web curiosity revenue and asset administration, and its complete income fell by simply 8%.

Morgan Stanley trades at a P/E ratio of 12.1. Whereas that is consistent with the place the inventory has traded traditionally, I’d argue that the inventory is affordable due to administration’s strikes to make the enterprise much less cyclical.

CEO James Gorman has contended that Morgan Stanley deserves a P/E ratio nearer to that of Charles Schwab, which has a P/E ratio of 24.3. Given Morgan Stanley’s strikes to develop its funding and wealth administration companies, this might be a wonderful inventory to purchase at right this moment’s low-cost valuation.