Jeff Morrison State Street Corp STT-N BUY Jul 19, 2001

They bought back 13.2% of shares this year. That's good, but STT lost market share to Blackrock in ETFs and that's not good. The lesson: big share buybacks doesn't alone mean a stock is a buy. The underlying business has to be sound too.

Somewhat weaker earnings. Trades at 10x earnings, cheap. Dividend yield is 3.7%. Bought back shares, approval for more, will continue until the stock moves. A great, duopoly business.

Financial services category, but in reality is a "custodian" of security transactions. Very stable business with lots of opportunity. Margins and profits continue to rise. Weakness after Silicon Valley collapse has created buying opportunity. Recent inclusion in US "Fed Test" indicated large amount of excess capital. Expecting large divided payout soon. 

Recent huge acquisition in Japan. Huge economies of scale. Steady grower. Fees come down or rebound along with markets. Still very cheap. Very well-capitalized balance sheet.