MS vs SHEL Comparison

Morgan Stanley is a massive global financial services firm, with offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees as of year-end 2024. The firm cut its teeth in investment banking and institutional trading, where it maintains a strong presence today, but generates the lion share of its income from wealth and asset management franchises, where it boasted $7.9 trillion in client assets at the end of its most recent fiscal year. After reincorporation as a bank holding company in the wake of the great financial crisis, Morgan Stanley also boasts a top 10 banking franchise by deposits, with nearly $400 billion in customer deposits, predominately attributable to cash sweeps from its wealth management and brokerage businesses.

Shell is an integrated oil and gas company that explores for, produces, and refines oil around the world. In 2024, it produced 1.5 million barrels of liquids and 7.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. At year-end 2024, reserves stood at 9.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, 48% of which consisted of liquids. Its production and reserves are in Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and North and South America. The company operates refineries with a capacity of 1.6 mmb/d located in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, and sells about 12 million tons per year of chemicals. Its largest chemical plants, often integrated with its local refineries, are in Central Europe, China, Singapore, and North America.