Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., along with Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, have dropped since the companies posted first-quarter results, even as four of them reported profits that beat analysts’ estimates. With combined adjusted revenue down 2.5 percent, the firms relied on a mix of tax benefits, job cuts and lower expenses from bad debts and litigation to fuel profit.

Bank of America and Morgan Stanley trade below tangible book value, a measure of what a company would be worth if liquidated. Smaller financial-services firms with brokerages fare better: Raymond James Financial Inc. trades for 2.02 times tangible book, while Stifel Financial Corp. is at 1.65.

Christine Jockle, a spokeswoman for New York-based Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America’s Susan McCabe declined to comment.

Morgan Stanley’s bet on the brokerage model may have soothed creditors as the extra yield investors demand to own the bank’s bonds instead of Treasuries fell by more than half in the past year.

Government Debt

Low yields on government debt spurred investors to put their money at risk, fueling gains in equities and the fees brokers charge as a percentage of assets they manage. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index surged 10 percent in the first quarter and hit a record 1593.4 on April 11. In 2007, when the benchmark touched its previous high, Merrill Lynch’s wealth management pretax earnings jumped 59 percent.

“A rising market definitely helps the wealth-management space at any company,” said Tom Pacilio, who left Morgan Stanley in 2011 to found Pacilio Wealth Management in Westport, Connecticut, which oversees about $200 million. “People are more inclined to start investing or shifting some of their investments.”

When Morgan Stanley agreed last year to buy the rest of its joint venture from New York-based Citigroup, the two banks agreed to value the entire unit at $13.5 billion after hiring an outside appraiser to settle a protracted dispute. Morgan Stanley is waiting on regulatory approval to complete the purchase of the 35 percent it doesn’t yet own.

Financial Crisis

Gorman’s gambit may gain in value as investors return to the markets after being burned by a drop of almost 40 percent in the S&P 500 in 2008 and a financial crisis that spurred consolidation in the industry.