State Street Q1 Profit Beats Views

reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter on Friday. The Boston, Massachusetts-based company reported quarterly earnings of $377 million, compared to $356 million, in the year-earlier period. On a per-share basis, the company's earnings gained to $0.90 per share from $0.81 per share. On an operating basis, State Street's adjusted profit came in at $1.17 per share. Its revenue rose to $2.61 billion from $2.49 billion, while revenue on an operating basis climbed to $2.68 billion from $2.56 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $1.05 per share on revenue of $2.67 billion. State Street had $2.44 trillion in assets under management, versus $2.38 trillion a year earlier. Its servicing fees increased 2.8 percent to $1.27 billion, while management fees climbed 3.1 percent to $301 million. Expenses rose to $2.10 billion in the first quarter, versus $2.03 billion in the year-ago quarter. Revenue in the trading-services business gained 28 percent. Return on average common shareholders' equity widened to 7.9 percent, compared to 7.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. The average estimate among 8 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.08 per share and revenue of $2.69 billion. Joseph L. Hooley, State Street's chairman and chief executive officer said, "We are pleased with our first-quarter 2015 results, which reflect strong fee revenue growth compared to the first quarter of 2014, continued momentum of our core business, and our focus on managing expenses. We continue to benefit from our strong market position and client demand for our servicing solutions remains robust as evidenced by $214 billion of new servicing commitments." State Street shares rose 1.04 percent to $79.00 in pre-market trading.