Retirement funds give T. Rowe a boost

Article Excerpt

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC. $49 (Nasdaq symbol TROW; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 252.6 million; Market cap: $12.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.7; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.troweprice.com) saw the value of mutual funds and other assets it manages fall 5.9%, to $453.5 billion on September 30, 2011, from $482.0 billion at the start of the year. The uncertainty over European sovereign debt and a slowing global economy cut stock prices and spurred investors to redeem their mutual fund units. Most of these redemptions were made by institutional investors. However, the company saw strong demand for its target-date retirement funds for individuals. As a result, T. Rowe Price’s revenue rose 15.9% in the third quarter of 2011, to $679.4 million from $586.1 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 9.6%, to $184.6 million, or $0.71 a share, from $168.4 million, or $0.64 a share. T. Rowe Price is a buy. buy…