State Street continues to cut costs

Article Excerpt

STATE STREET CORP. $74 is a buy. The company (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 301.9 million; Market cap: $22.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to operators of mutual funds and pension plans. Revenue in the three months ended December 31, 2023, fell 3.5%, to $3.04 billion from $2.69 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly because its paying higher interest income to its depositors. Earnings before unusual items also fell 1.4%, to $2.04 a share (or a total of $636 million) from $2.07 a share (or $753 million). However, State Street expects a plan to improve efficiency will cut $500 million from its costs in 2024, up from $300 million in 2023. The stock also trades at an attractive 9.5 times the $7.76 a share that the company will probably earn this year. With the October 2023 payment, State Street raised your quarterly dividend by 9.5%. The new annual…