Is It Safe? Ameriprise Gets Over the Hump

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MINNEAPOLIS (TheStreet) -- Ameriprise Financial's(AMP Quote) message from management during last week's conference call was clear: The wealth-management and insurance firm will keep cutting costs and seek acquisitions with its $2 billion in cash.

Revenue was at the highest level since the second quarter of 2008 and earnings were nearly the same if a $114 million one-off expense were excluded. With ever-widening profit margins, the second half of the year may turn out to be very profitable.

The firm's policy income was strong and may comfortably exceed last year's. Asset levels at $103 billion have rebounded from a low of $95 billion in the first quarter.

And with $800 million in debt repayments next year and nothing due in the following three years, the future looks bright. Chief Executive Jim Cracchiolo said on the call: Ameriprise "now has the capacity to act quickly as we identify opportunities," noting he's actively looking for acquisitions without the need to raise additional capital.

Clearly, Ameriprise is bullish. Is the stock worth buying?

Ameriprise has a high price-to-earnings ratio of 15.7, compared with Travelers'(TRV Quote) 9.7 and Unum's(UNM Quote) 9.3. However, it may drop to around 11 for the year based on analysts' estimates.

With a book value of only 82.4%, Ameriprise is cheap. MetLife(MET Quote) is about 130%, which isn't particularly high. By contrast, consider Hartford Financial Group(HIG Quote), which is clearly undervalued at 62% but has well-publicized problems holding it back.

Ameriprise's stock should be trading at more than $31 for parity with book value and, according to SNL Financial, the price target for the year is $32.50. This means it's underpriced by 21%. With little short interest in the stock, only Aetna(AET Quote) and Chubb(CB Quote) are less interesting to short traders betting on share-price declines.