State Street Corp Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (STT)

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- State Street (NYSE:STT) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of B+ . The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share, revenue growth, attractive valuation levels and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Powered by its strong earnings growth of 31.57% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 44.95% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, STT should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
• STATE STREET CORP has improved earnings per share by 31.6% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, STATE STREET CORP increased its bottom line by earning $4.19 versus $3.79 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($4.41 versus $4.19).
• Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 11.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 3.5%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The gross profit margin for STATE STREET CORP is currently very high, coming in at 95.70%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 18.35% is above that of the industry average.

State Street Corporation, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide. State Street has a market cap of $26.53 billion and is part of the financial sector and banking industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 14.4, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 21.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

You can view the full State Street Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

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