Stifel Financial is an attractively valued capital markets firm with a wide economic moat, a perfect 4-quarter earnings beat streak, and strong financial health, but its death-cross technical pattern and thin 4.3% upside to analyst targets limit near-term entry appeal.
Thesis pillars
- Wide Economic Moat Compounder Quality↓Deteriorating
- Perfect Earnings Beat Streak Low Surprise→Stable
- Attractive Valuation Below Peers→Stable
- +1 more pillar — see the Why tab for full reasoning
Stifel Financial Corporation (SF) Stock Analysis
Financial Services · Capital Markets
Hold if already holding. Not a fresh buy at $85.62, but acceptable to hold if already in. Reasons: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (4.7% away).
Stifel Financial provides wealth management, institutional brokerage, investment banking, and retail/commercial banking through 2,200+ financial advisors across 402 US branch offices, plus international operations. Client assets reached $551.9 billion at December 31, 2025. The... Read more
Hold if already holding. Not a fresh buy at $85.62, but acceptable to hold if already in. Reasons: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (4.7% away). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Maintain position. Not compelling to add more. Score 6.5/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 7/8 gates (positive momentum, clean insider activity, no SEC red flags, news events none recent, earnings proximity 66d clear, semi cycle peak clear, materials cycle peak clear). Fails on favorable risk/reward ratio. Suitability: moderate.
About Stifel Financial Corporation
About Stifel Financial Corporation
Stifel Financial held $551.9 billion in client assets at December 31, 2025, up from $11.7 billion in 1997, supported by more than 2,200 financial advisors in 402 branch offices across 48 states. The company's three segments — Global Wealth Management, Institutional Group, and Stifel Bancorp — employed over 9,000 associates, with operations extending to the United Kingdom, Europe, and Canada. Stifel operates as a financial holding company under Federal Reserve Board supervision.
Stifel earns revenue across three segments: Global Wealth Management generates brokerage commissions and asset-based advisory fees on client assets in managed accounts; Institutional Group generates equity and fixed-income trading revenues, investment banking advisory fees, and underwriting commissions; and Stifel Bancorp generates net interest income on commercial real estate, C&I, residential mortgage, securities-based lending, and venture banking loans, funded primarily by client cash swept through the firm's multi-bank sweep program. In 2025, the company acquired B. Riley Financial's traditional wealth management business (36 advisors, approximately $4 billion in AUM, April 7, 2025) and Bryan, Garnier & Co., a European investment bank serving technology and healthcare clients (June 2, 2025). The firm sold Stifel Independent Advisors to an Equitable Holdings affiliate on February 2, 2026. No single client accounts for a material percentage of any segment's business.
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Stifel's net interest income is sensitive to short-term interest rate movements because bank deposits — funded primarily through a sweep program routing client brokerage cash into FDIC-insured accounts at Stifel Bancorp subsidiaries and third-party banks — constitute the primary funding source for the banking subsidiary. The 10-K states that short-term rate increases have historically benefited brokerage-side net earnings while rate decreases generally reduce them. Third-party bank fees from the sweep program also vary with rate levels and competitive demand for client cash; rapidly rising rates could cause clients to shift cash into higher-yielding alternatives, compressing Stifel Bancorp's low-cost deposit base and net interest margin.
See also: Financial Services · Capital Markets
From Stifel Financial Corporation's most recent 10-K filing, extracted June 11, 2026.
Recent developments
updated 2026-08-16Recent Developments — Stifel Financial Corporation
Latest news
- NEWS Stifel Financial Delivers Record Results, Confident Outlook - TipRanks — TipRanks positive
- NEWS Stifel Financial: AI Cash Fears Create Buying Opportunity (NYSE:SF) - Seeking Alpha — Seeking Alpha positive
- NEWS Stifel Financial (SF) Beats Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates - Yahoo Finance — Yahoo Finance positive
- NEWS Stifel (NYSE:SF) Misses Q2 CY2026 Sales Expectations - StockStory — StockStory negative
- NEWS STIFEL FINANCIAL ($SF) Releases Q2 2026 Earnings - Quiver Quantitative — Quiver Quantitative neutral
Generated 2026-08-16T18:22:07Z.
Upcoming dated catalysts
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Model-generated analysis — not investment advice. Not a registered investment advisor. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
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Rating Breakdown
1 floor-breaker
Technicals below the gate floor. Component breakdown shows what dragged the score down.static
Price Targets
Position Sizing
Risk Alerts
Earnings
Verdict History
Frequently Asked Questions
Hold if already holding. Not a fresh buy at $85.62, but acceptable to hold if already in. Reasons: Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (4.7% away). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Maintain position. Not compelling to add more. Target $98.46 (+15.0%), stop $81.80 (−4.7%), A.R:R -0.9:1. Score 6.5/10, moderate confidence.
Take-profit target: $98.46 (-9.6% upside). Target $98.46 (+15.0%), stop $81.80 (−4.7%), A.R:R -0.9:1. Stop-loss: $81.80.
Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Near 52-week high (4.7% away).
Stifel Financial Corporation trades at a P/E of 15.3 (forward 11.7). TrendMatrix value score: 7.3/10. Verdict: Hold.
16 analysts cover SF with a consensus score of 3.9/5. Average price target: $89.
What does Stifel Financial Corporation do?Stifel Financial provides wealth management, institutional brokerage, investment banking, and retail/commercial banking...
Stifel Financial provides wealth management, institutional brokerage, investment banking, and retail/commercial banking through 2,200+ financial advisors across 402 US branch offices, plus international operations. Client assets reached $551.9 billion at December 31, 2025. The company serves private clients, institutions, and corporations through Global Wealth Management, Institutional Group, and banking subsidiary Stifel Bancorp.