STATE STREET CORP. $45 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 495.4 million; Market cap: $22.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 0.1%; WSSF Rating: Extra Risk) makes most of its money providing accounting and record-keeping services to large institutional investors, such as mutual funds and pension plans. State Street has agreed to pay $313 million to settle lawsuits that accused the company of selling investors securities backed by subprime mortgages without warning of the risks involved. This latest payment is in addition to $350 million that State Street has already paid to settle earlier lawsuits. If you exclude these payments and other unusual items, State Street would have earned $2.0 billion in 2009. That’s down 14.9% from $2.4 billion in 2008. In May 2009, State Street issued $2 billion of common shares and used the proceeds to pay back its TARP loans. As a result of the extra shares, earnings per share fell 26.7%, to $4.11 from $5.61. Revenue fell 16.4%, to $8.8 billion from $10.5 billion. State Street’s earnings should rise to $4.30 a share in 2010. The stock trades at a low 10.5 times that figure. However, the company holds $12.1 billion of securities backed by mortgages, student loans and credit-card loans. If the economy weakens, State Street may have to write down the value of these holdings. State Street is a hold.
STATE STREET CORP. $45 - New York symbol STT
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