What happened

Investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners' (PWP -1.28%) share price jumped up 6.7% and the stock was trading at around $11.01 per share, up 12.5% year to date, as of Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The major indexes were all down on Thursday -- the S&P 500 by 22 points (-0.5%), the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 168 points (-0.5%), and the Nasdaq Composite by 70 points (-0.6%) -- as of that same time.

So what

New York City investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners surged higher on Thursday on the strength of its fourth-quarter earnings report. The bank destroyed revenue and earnings estimates with $183 million in revenue, which was far better than the $131 million estimate.

Overall, revenue was down 8% year over year in the quarter, while adjusted earnings per share was $0.11, down from $0.33 a year ago. For the full year, revenue was down about 21% to $631.5 million.

Last year was one of the worst in recent times for investment banks as the number of deals dried up due to the high-interest-rate environment, among other factors. To make the year-over-year numbers look even worse, the firm had a record year in 2021.

"Despite one of the most challenging economic environments in recent memory, it's a great testament to the firm that in this context, we continued to grow our partnership, our MD (managing director) group and the firm; expanded our client relationships around the world; and returned a significant amount of capital to shareholders," said Peter Weinberg, founding partner and chairman.

Now what

This year should be another challenging year for the investment bank as interest rates remain high and the economy is expected to slow down. But the landscape for mergers and acquisitions is expected to be slightly better than last year, particularly if interest rates flatten out or start to head back down.

Perella Weinberg has good liquidity, with about $311 million in cash and cash equivalents and no outstanding indebtedness. The firm announced this week that it plans to repurchase up to $100 million in company stock in addition to roughly $25 million remaining from last year's buyback authorization.

The firm has been around since 2006 but just went public in 2021. It is not a bank on my radar right now, as the environment remains challenging.