Morgan Stanley (MS) has been one of my favorite names in the financial sector as the company has delivered several strong quarters in a row. At the same time, the share price hasn't reflected this strength until recently.

Shares of the company are higher by more than 45% since the last time I looked at the company in October of 2020. Given this strong gain, should investors wait for the stock to cool off, or is there still more room to the upside for Morgan Stanley?

Recent earnings results

Morgan Stanley reported fourth quarter and full year results for

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 30,930.52 on Tuesday with a gain of 116.26 points or 0.38%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,798.91 for a gain of 30.66 points or 0.81%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,197.18 for a gain of 198.68 points or 1.53%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 23.24 for a loss of 1.10 points or -4.52%.

Tuesday's Market Movers

U.S. stocks gained Tuesday as the Biden Administration begins to transition to office. President Elect Joe Biden's inauguration is Wednesday at noon.

Earnings headlines for the day included:

• Bank of America (BAC): Revenue of

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Bank of America Corp (BAC) reported fourth-quarter results on Tuesday before markets opened. Both stocks have since failed to post significant gains despite beating analyst expectations.

Both stocks appear to be fairly valued based on the Peter Lynch earnings line. However, when we look further forward, there is clearly one that looks more compelling given the expected earnings for the foreseeable future.

Highlights of Goldman Sachs' fiscal fourth-quarter results

In its most recent quarterly results, Goldman Sachs' earnings per share grew by 157.57% to $12.08, which beat the consensus Street estimate

Leading global investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) released stellar fourth-quarter results on Tuesday morning.

The group reported earnings per share of $12.08, which sailed past Refinitiv analysts' estimates of $7.47 per share. Revenue of $11.74 billion also jumped ahead of estimates by $1.75 billion and surpassed 2019 totals by 18%.

Goldman Sachs' significant jump in net revenue came from both the underwriting and financial advisory aspects of the business. Underwriting specifically saw benefits from higher net revenues coming from equity-based underwriting that reflects higher industry-wide activity. These revenues were partially offset by

The T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio) has revealed its portfolio for the fourth quarter ending on Dec. 31, 2020. Top trades included reductions in the fund's top holding Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) alongside Enbridge Inc. (ENB) and Fox Corp. (FOX). As well, the fund saw two new buys in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS).

The fund uses a conservative, value-orientated strategy to pursue substantial dividend income and long-term growth potential. Investments are made in common stocks of established firms that are expected to pay above-average dividends and appear to be

While bank stocks can hardly be said to have had a bad year in 2020, they did lag much of the rest of the market. However, they ended the year strong thanks in no small part to the Federal Reserve. On Dec. 18, the central bank announced the banking sector's clean bill of financial health following the latest round of stress tests.

The Fed has given banks the green light to loosen up from their defensive crouch. Consequently, bank stocks may be poised to enjoy a strong first quarter.

Buybacks back on the menu

The

Spiros Segalas (Trades, Portfolio) has revealed his portfolio for the fourth quarter, which ended Oct. 31, 2020, earlier this week. His top trades included reductions in Mastercard Inc. (MA), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA). As well, he sold out of his holding in Eli Lilly and Co. (LLY) and made a new buy into Peloton Interactive Inc. (PTON).

Segalas is the manager of the Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund, part of the Chicago-based Harbor Funds. The fund focuses on companies that have mid to large market caps and have above-average prospects for

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 30,216.45 on Monday with a gain of 37.40 points or 0.12%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,694.92 for a loss of 14.49 points or -0.39%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 12,742.52 for a loss of 13.12 points or -0.10%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 25.16 for a gain of 3.59 points or 16.64%.

Monday's Market Movers

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower Monday. Investors were concerned about reports of a new Coronavirus strain in the UK. Over the weekend, Moderna's (MRNA) Covid-19 vaccine was cleared for emergency use. Pfizer's (PFE) vaccine has

Banks play an integral role in an economy by facilitating capital flows and overlooking payments. For this reason, the financial services sector is often considered as one of the most critical pillars to the success of a nation. The global financial crisis raised questions about the lending and investment practices of the global banking industry as several billion-dollar banks were bailed out by regulators to avoid a catastrophe. Following this event, the Federal Reserve introduced many precautionary measures to prevent adverse developments in the future, and the stress test results released by the Fed on Dec. 18 goes on to

Is the market for biotechnology companies getting overheated? Investors might want to be somewhat cautious about the industry, especially initial public offerings.

For now, biotechs are flying high. Public and investor awareness of the companies has been raised to new levels thanks to the industry's work on solutions to the Covid-19 pandemic. The National Biotechnology Index is at a five-year high, up more than 27% in the past year. The boost has been aided in great part by a record year in IPOs. Throughout 2020, very early-stage companies managed to float at substantial valuations, with many offerings upsized, according to

Dodge & Cox disclosed its third-quarter portfolio in mid-November, revealing that its top five trades included increased bets in Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Raytheon Technologies Corp. (RTX) and position reductions in FedEx Corp. (FDX), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS).

Through a nine-member investment policy committee, the San Francisco-based firm seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in the stock of companies where the valuations are low and do not reflect long-term earnings and cash flow prospects.

As of the end of the third quarter, the firm's $109.28 billion equity

Third-quarter 13-F filings of major investment management companies have been hitting the market over the last couple of weeks.

Investors monitor these regulatory filings not only to find lucrative investment ideas that are loved by gurus but also to gauge a measure of market sectors that are going out of favor among the best brains in the industry.

From my analysis of the recently-submitted documents that I have read, many gurus have divested large portions of their holdings in the financial services sector during the third quarter. The notable guru sells that I want to highlight are listed below:

Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) are up just slightly for 2020, but all of the company's peers in the financial sector are in the red for the year.

With its focus on wealth and investment management, as opposed to growing its loan book, Morgan Stanley has managed to avoid some of the pitfalls that the other banks have faced.

The New York-based investment bank reported quarterly results on Thursday morning that came in well ahead of what Wall Street analysts had predicted. The company's credit loss provisions declined quarter over quarter and look much more

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,514.00 on Wednesday with a loss of 165.81 points or -0.58%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,488.67 for a loss of 23.26 points or -0.66%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 11,768.73 for a loss of 95.17 points or -0.80%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 26.40 for a gain of 0.33 points or 1.27%.

Wednesday's Market Movers

U.S. indexes closed with losses for a second day.

Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo released earnings from among the big banks. Goldman Sachs reported a big beat and credit loss provisions in

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,815.44 on Thursday with a gain of 52.31 points or 0.20%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,246.59 for a gain of 9.67 points or 0.30%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 10,672.27 for a gain of 39.28 points or 0.37%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 28.51 for a loss of 0.070 points or -0.24%.

Thursday's market movers

U.S. indexes rebounded from Wednesday's closing losses to finish just slightly higher for the day. Gains were led by utilities and semiconductors. The Nasdaq Biotech Index was down 1.05%. The White House said it may

Opportunity cost is generally defined as the cost of missing out on a particular opportunity when another option is taken.

According to Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio), the opportunity cost is the only thing he thinks about when evaluating whether or not one stock is worth buying compared to another.

However, it is difficult to assess the opportunity costs of different investments in times of crisis. This is the challenge investors face today.

Opportunity cost in times of crisis

The opportunity cost of taking one investment over another is difficult to determine because the outlook for so

The increasing disconnect between U.S. stock prices and economic reality may seem surprising or even surreal to many investors. Not only did the recent "market crash" last for only a month, stock prices continue to rise even for companies that reported year-over-year declines, so long as they beat whatever the analyst community on Wall Street was predicting.

More than halfway through 2020, not only is the stock market thriving, we are also seeing a change in fortunes for special purpose acquisition companies, also known as SPACs or blank-check companies, which are highly speculative in nature as their success depends entirely

Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio) is the founder and CEO of Omega Advisors, a former hedge fund that he converted into a family office in 2018. At age 77, Cooperman has seen it all - he started his career at Goldman Sachs (GS), where he spent 25 years before founding Omega. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Cooperman talked about his view on current central bank policy.

The disconnect between the stock market and the real economy

Cooperman believes that the U.S. Federal Reserve has created a speculative bubble in financial markets, which does not at

As someone who has followed Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) for over a decade and writes about him on a daily basis, I believe I have a good understanding of the Oracle of Omaha's investment strategy and views on the market. I also own shares in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B).

Like many of my fellow investors in Buffett's conglomerate, I was somewhat surprised to see his trading actions during the second quarter of 2020. Here are some of my thoughts on the topic.

Buffett's second-quarter moves

During the second quarter, Berkshire initiated one new position while adding

Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)'s $506.23 billion conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A)(BRK.B), disclosed its equity portfolio for the second quarter of 2020 on Friday.

Despite having more than $130 billion to spend on stocks, the renowned guru and his two portfolio managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, only entered one new position during the three months ended June 30, which, surprisingly, was Barrick Gold Corp. (GOLD). Other major trades for the quarter included reductions of the long-held JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) stakes. They also completely sold out of Goldman Sachs Group