Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (AMP)

Hell yeah

I see some risks for AMP. In a couple of years it will lose the use of the Amex brand and must stand on its own. Also, there are outstanding legal issues which, if they go badly, could tarnish AMP's reputation. And in the world of fin. management retputation is rather important. However, I do not expect the legal proceedings to end negatively, so the AMP brand will not be damaged, allowing it to continue its growth when completely separated from Amex.

I just know.

Ameriprise Financial is a financial planning company spun off from American Express. The separation remains right on track with 75% of the process completed and has been able to establish the Ameriprise financial brand with its market campaign. It has organized itself into 2 operating divisions as asset accumulation and income, and protection accounting for 70% and 30% of the revenues respectively. Ameriprise has a deep-rooted advice centric model facilitated by its strong talent pool of Certified Financial Planners. These help in creating a loyal customer base, acting as a one stop financial house.

Much focus is on improving the return on equity, balance sheet optimization and risk management. Endorsing the same, consolidation of its five life insurance entities into two has freed up capital of over $120 million. In protection segment it finished as the leader in variable universal life insurance and asset accumulation products. However the management expects continuous revenue pressure from declining spread income based on declining trends relating to fixed annuity and certificate account balances for 2007.

Ameriprise sees huge growth potential in the mass affluent segment of population who mainly constitute the baby boomer nearing retirement. The strong equity environment has helped its earning growth in 2006. Though assets under management increased 14%, redemptions in RiverSource mutual funds and poor investment returns seem to be an area of concern. The firm has strengthened its distribution reach through institutional and other third party channels like banks and banks to attract fund inflows.

In spite of having an excellent distribution channel, supported by a good employee retention metrics the fund outflow, regulatory and fierce competition makes life difficult for Ameriprise and chances of double-digit growth look dim.

I used Bates' model to determine a fair value of 73.53.
I AM a sunday fool.com player so it's probably wrong again.

I like this because they have a recognizable name, no blemishes on the record I have heard of, and when the boomres are retiring, they are going to have to do something w. their money

Seems to be doing awfully well for a financial services company catering to the "affluent and mass affluent." Given the economic/political atmosphere, I believe the American pie is likely to a) shrink and b) get cut more evenly over the next three years. The affluent will become mass affluent and the mass affluent will become mass.

Execution has been excellent since it was spun out. Earnings growth has been impressive and it hasn't missed any quarters, but their estimates for '08 and '09 have barely been cut since the beginning of the year.

with the current undertaking of the company it'll take several months for their commodities to bounce back.

I think this stock is getting punished because it is in the financial field. They still have a strong business franchise with a growing client base for personal financial management and strong insurance division. We should start seeing some upside soon.

With a PE ratio of about 7, this stock is seriously undervalued. In these scary financial times, people are going to need more and more financial advice. And Ameriprise is there to give it to them.

financial planning

Undervalued

This CAPS account is tracking the 200 highest yielding S&P stocks.

Decent balance sheet nice cash on hand, low debt, 3+% dividend 18% percent projected increase in EPS next year seems i fly this one for a bit

A sleeper.

Top Div

I used to work for this company and even though I don't believe in what they "train" or their proprietary advice, they have the most CFP's and a very large advisor base and are extremely good at gathering assets and selling insurance. Originally when they spun off from AXP I didn't think this company would do that well and even more so match what AXP is doing. It's a solid company with solid management. I see them continuing to do well in the Financial Planning arena

Boomers need a servin' for their savings.

A spin off of American Express, this stock has done well for me over the past year and shows no sign of slowing down. Not a fast mover but steady gains.