Profitable purchase for State Street

Article Excerpt

STATE STREET CORP. $44 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 479.1 million; Market cap: $21.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.statestreet.com) has completed its $550-million purchase of the hedge fund management business of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (New York symbol GS). These operations should immediately add to its earnings. Meanwhile, the company earned $473 million in the three months ended September 30, 2012. That’s down 0.6% from $476 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 3.1%, to $0.99 from $0.96, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue fell 2.7%, to $2.35 billion from $2.41 billion, as lower volumes hurt its trading division. State Street is a buy. buy…