Latest news with #StifelFinancial
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stifel Reports Y/Y Rise in Client & Fee-Based Assets for May 2025
Stifel Financial Corp. SF reported key operating results as of May 31, 2025, highlighting year-over-year increases in client and fee-based assets, despite volatility in equity markets. The company's total client assets increased 8% year over year and 3% from the prior month's level in May 2025, reaching $501.4 million. This is driven by market appreciation and the successful recruitment of financial advisors. Fee-based client assets rose 13% year over year and 4% sequentially in May to $199.1 million. Private Client Group's fee-based client assets were $173.6 million as of May 31, 2025, up 12% from the year-ago quarter and 5% from the previous month's level. Bank loans, net (including loans held for sale), were $21.2 million as of May 2025, up 7% year over year but down 2% sequentially. Client money market and insured product balances decreased 2% on a year-over-year basis and nearly 1% on a sequential basis in May due to a lower Smart rate balance, as the Sweep deposit balance also witnessed a slight decline. SF's May total client assets and fee-based assets increased, indicating strong growth in client engagement and portfolio value. Further, a rise in bank loans, net, implies a positive trend in lending activities and revenue growth from this segment. However, declining client money market and insured product balances suggest a decline in liquidity and possibly a negative market perception. In April, the investment banking activity was negatively affected by the market volatility. However, as the market stabilized, its momentum increased, and the investment banking pipeline strengthened throughout the quarter. Though IB revenue is expected to decrease in the second quarter of 2025, management remains cautiously optimistic for the full year 2025. In the past year, Stifel shares have risen 25.5% underperforming the industry's rise of 40.6%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Currently, SF carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. LPL Financial LPLA witnessed a rise in total brokerage and advisory assets in May 2025. The metric was $1.85 trillion, which grew 3.7% from the prior month and 26.5% year over year. LPLA reported a total client cash balance of $49.2 billion in May, down 5% from the prior month but up 10.6% from May 2024. Of the total balance, $33.4 billion was insured cash, $10.6 billion was deposit cash, and the remainder consisted of money-market sweep and client cash balances. Charles Schwab SCHW also released its monthly activity report for May 2025. The company's total client assets were $10.35 trillion, up 12.4% from May 2024 and 4.6% from April 2025. SCHW's Client assets receiving ongoing advisory services were $5.24 trillion, growing 12.6% from the year-ago period and 3.9% from the prior month. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) : Free Stock Analysis Report Stifel Financial Corporation (SF) : Free Stock Analysis Report LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Globe and Mail
27-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Stifel Reports Y/Y Rise in Client & Fee-Based Assets for May 2025
Stifel Financial Corp. SF reported key operating results as of May 31, 2025, highlighting year-over-year increases in client and fee-based assets, despite volatility in equity markets. Breakdown of SF's May Operating Results The company's total client assets increased 8% year over year and 3% from the prior month's level in May 2025, reaching $501.4 million. This is driven by market appreciation and the successful recruitment of financial advisors. Fee-based client assets rose 13% year over year and 4% sequentially in May to $199.1 million. Private Client Group's fee-based client assets were $173.6 million as of May 31, 2025, up 12% from the year-ago quarter and 5% from the previous month's level. Bank loans, net (including loans held for sale), were $21.2 million as of May 2025, up 7% year over year but down 2% sequentially. Client money market and insured product balances decreased 2% on a year-over-year basis and nearly 1% on a sequential basis in May due to a lower Smart rate balance, as the Sweep deposit balance also witnessed a slight decline. Final Words on Stifel SF's May total client assets and fee-based assets increased, indicating strong growth in client engagement and portfolio value. Further, a rise in bank loans, net, implies a positive trend in lending activities and revenue growth from this segment. However, declining client money market and insured product balances suggest a decline in liquidity and possibly a negative market perception. In April, the investment banking activity was negatively affected by the market volatility. However, as the market stabilized, its momentum increased, and the investment banking pipeline strengthened throughout the quarter. Though IB revenue is expected to decrease in the second quarter of 2025, management remains cautiously optimistic for the full year 2025. SF's Zacks Rank & Price Performance In the past year, Stifel shares have risen 25.5% underperforming the industry 's rise of 40.6%. Currently, SF carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Performance of Other Finance Stocks in May LPL Financial LPLA witnessed a rise in total brokerage and advisory assets in May 2025. The metric was $1.85 trillion, which grew 3.7% from the prior month and 26.5% year over year. LPLA reported a total client cash balance of $49.2 billion in May, down 5% from the prior month but up 10.6% from May 2024. Of the total balance, $33.4 billion was insured cash, $10.6 billion was deposit cash, and the remainder consisted of money-market sweep and client cash balances. Charles Schwab SCHW also released its monthly activity report for May 2025. The company's total client assets were $10.35 trillion, up 12.4% from May 2024 and 4.6% from April 2025. SCHW's Client assets receiving ongoing advisory services were $5.24 trillion, growing 12.6% from the year-ago period and 3.9% from the prior month. Zacks' Research Chief Picks Stock Most Likely to "At Least Double" Our experts have revealed their Top 5 recommendations with money-doubling potential – and Director of Research Sheraz Mian believes one is superior to the others. Of course, all our picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier recommendations like Hims & Hers Health, which shot up +209%. See Our Top Stock to Double (Plus 4 Runners Up) >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW): Free Stock Analysis Report Stifel Financial Corporation (SF): Free Stock Analysis Report LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA): Free Stock Analysis Report
Reuters
25-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Two investment banks seek freedom from US SEC analyst research settlement
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - Piper Sandler (PIPR.N), opens new tab and Stifel Financial (SF.N), opens new tab on Wednesday asked a judge to free them from "onerous" restrictions from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's global settlement more than two decades ago with 12 investment banks over analyst conflicts. The $1.5 billion settlement in 2003, opens new tab and 2004, opens new tab addressed a scandal over analysts issuing positive research to help Citigroup (C.N), opens new tab, Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab, Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab, the defunct Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, and others win investment banking business. In a filing in Manhattan federal court, Piper and Stifel said they should not be bound to requirements in a related consent decree, including having to build "firewalls" between research and investment banking, while nearly all rivals are held to looser standards the SEC approved in 2015. Piper and Stifel said the disparate treatment makes it harder to compete with other middle-market banks, as well as large banks that are bound by the settlement but have much larger client bases and are better known globally. They also said the decree hurts the public interest because research may have different protections depending on which bank issued it, and smaller companies may struggle to raise capital because compliance costs mean some banks cannot afford to provide research coverage. "The consent decree has achieved its purpose," Piper and Stifel said. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment. Piper is based in Minneapolis, and Stifel is based in St. Louis. They are the respective successors to US Bancorp Piper Jaffray and Thomas Weisel Partners, the smallest investment banks in the SEC settlement. The settlement had been engineered mainly by former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, addressing alleged conflicts by analysts like Citigroup's Jack Grubman and Merrill Lynch's Henry Blodget. The cases are SEC v US Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 03-02942; and SEC v Thomas Weisel Partners LLC in the same court, No. 04-06910.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Unusually Active Put Options Signal Long Straddle Opportunity After Zoetis Downgrade
Stifel Financial analysts downgraded Zoetis (ZTS) stock from a Buy to a Hold rating on Wednesday, citing slower growth over the next two years due to increased competition. The animal health company's shares fell by 4% on the news. Down nearly 8% over the past year, considerably worse than the 9.3% gain for the S&P 500 and 4.8% for Idexx Laboratories (IDXX), its biggest competitor. Geopolitical Volatility Puts Iamgold (IAG) on the Radar for Risk-Tolerant Bulls Unusually Active Put Options Signal Long Straddle Opportunity After Zoetis Downgrade Get exclusive insights with the FREE Barchart Brief newsletter. Subscribe now for quick, incisive midday market analysis you won't find anywhere else. As a result of the downgrade, its share volume yesterday was 4.66 million, x times its 30-day average. At the same time, the options volume was also unusually high, at 5,028, almost five times the average. There were 2,014 unusually active options yesterday--1,001 calls and 1,013 puts. Of the puts, Zoetis had one unusually active option. It signals a potential long straddle strategy for investors. The question is whether it's the best strategy to use in this instance. Here are my thoughts. The July 18 $155 put above had a volume of 1,011 yesterday. There were a lot of bets made on the unusually active option. The most significant trade among the 1,011 contracts was 44, which changed hands at approximately 9:42 a.m. I count 36 trades of 10 or more, and 66 trades of less than 10, indicating that this was a combination of retail and institutional investor bets. As I said, the $155 strike set up for a possible long straddle strategy. There are pros and cons to this play. The long straddle strategy is applied when you expect the volatility of a stock to increase and the share price to move aggressively in either direction, but are unsure which way it will move. To execute the long straddle, you buy a call and put at the same strike price and expiration date. This bet generates a profit if the share price at expiration (July 18) is above $165.40 or below $144.60. However, should it fail to move up 6.7% or down 6.7% over the next 30 days, you are out the net debit of $10.40 [$5.70 ask price on call + $4.70 ask price on put] or 6.71% of yesterday's $155.06 closing share price. When considering these strategies, it's easy to think that a 6.7% move in either direction over 30 days is a realistic expectation. It's not. The expected move over the next 30 days is 5.22% in either direction. To increase your chances of profiting from this long straddle bet, you'd be better off extending the DTE by 28 days to Aug. 15, nine days after Zoetis announces its Q2 2025 results. However, that would have cost you approximately $17.50 [$9.60 ask price on call + $9.90 ask price on put], or 11.5% of its share price, nearly double the July 18 call and put. Interestingly, despite the lower expected move for the July DTE, the long call and long put pages suggest, at least individually, they have a slightly better profit probability, 1.92 percentage points higher [33.41% profit probability for July 18 $155 put compared to 31.49% for the Aug. 15 $155]. So, even though the July put has a lower expected move, the cost (net debit) of the long straddle, at $710, is less than that of the August put, making it more sensible. But is the long straddle the best strategy? Zoetis was spun off from Pfizer (PFE) in 2013. Conducted in two parts, it first sold 20% of the animal health company in a February 2013 initial public offering (IPO). The remaining 80% was spun off in a share exchange on June 20, 2013, in which Pfizer shareholders received 0.9898 shares of Zoetis for each Pfizer share. If you had kept your Pfizer shares rather than exchanging them for 0.9898 shares of Zoetis, your Pfizer stock would have lost ground over the next 12 years, generating an annual return of only 2.96%, because of the dividends. Meanwhile, adjusted for dividends, 0.9898 shares of Zoetis would have appreciated by 15.5% annually over the same 12 years. That's the good news. The bad news is that most of the gains came between 2016 and 2021. Since its all-time high of $249.27 on Dec. 30, 2021, its shares have lost 38% of their value. The likelihood of its shares moving higher seems remote given the downgrade. However, it wouldn't be surprising to see it trading below $150 before too long. So, the short bet is a better play. Three possibilities to use based on a bearish outlook are the long put, bear put spread, or bear call spread. Buying the July 18 $155 long put based on the numbers above, you're making money if it falls below $150.30. Simple enough. With the bear put spread, you're buying a put and selling a put at a lower strike with the same expiration date. This bet limits your profit and loss. Going long with the $155 put, here are three lower strike prices to consider. Given the difference in maximum loss between the $140 short put and $150 short put is only $170, or 1.1% of yesterday's closing price, the $140 short put seems like the play with a risk/reward of just 0.38 to 1. The final of three bearish put strategies is the bear call spread. Here you're using calls rather than puts. It involves selling a call and buying a call at a higher strike price with the same expiration. In this instance, using the same $155 strike but for calls, you're generating a net credit rather than a net debit. For example, the net credit of the $155 long call and $165 short call is $3.10 [$4.60 bid price - $1.50 ask price]. The $170 short call raises the net credit to $4.00, and the $175, to $4.30. If you're bearish, despite the higher risk/reward, the profit probability is significantly higher than the bear put spread, varying between 60.3% and 64.1%, nearly double. Counterintuitively, even though you're exposing yourself to higher losses, you're doing so to secure a profitable trade. For this reason, the downgrade from yesterday likely led to some call action on the $155 strike. I see 22 calls in Wednesday trading. Not as much as one might expect. In Thursday morning options trading, of the July 18 options, there is only one call strike that has had a trade of 10 or more [$160], with plenty of 10+ trades for put strikes, especially the $155. Investors have spoken. The bear put spread is the play for those bearish on Zoetis. On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. 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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stifel Financial reports April total client assets $485.55B
Stifel Financial (SF) reported selected operating results for April 30 in an effort to provide timely information to investors on certain key performance metrics. Due to the limited nature of this data, a consistent correlation to earnings should not be assumed. Ronald Kruszewski, chairman and CEO, said, 'Total client assets and fee-based assets increased 7% and 11%, respectively, from the same period a year ago, due to market appreciation and our continued success in recruiting productive financial advisors. On a month-on-month basis, both our total client assets and fee-based assets finished relatively in-line with March levels, despite significant volatility in the equities markets. Client money market and insured product balances decreased 5% in April as both Smart Rate and Sweep deposits were negatively impacted by typical seasonality.' Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter Published first on TheFly – the ultimate source for real-time, market-moving breaking financial news. Try Now>> See the top stocks recommended by analysts >> Read More on SF: Disclaimer & DisclosureReport an Issue Stifel Financial price target lowered to $102 from $106 at Wells Fargo Stifel Financial: Positioned for Upside Amid Market Recovery and Strategic Growth Stifel Financial Reports Record First-Quarter Revenue Stifel Financial's Earnings Call: Record Revenue Amid Challenges Stifel Financial reports Q1 non-GAAP EPS 49c vs. $1.49 last year Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
