We are upgrading our recommendation on Ameriprise Financial (AMP) to Outperform from Neutral. The company’s fourth quarter earnings came in substantially ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, aided by strong top-line growth and expense management.
The company continues to benefit from its re-engineering and cost-control initiatives. Additionally, improvements witnessed in retail client activity will drive operating leverage in the upcoming quarters.
The company continues to work on capturing greater assets by improving its product solutions and expanding its distribution reach. Also, the prospective acquisition of Columbia Management will significantly shore up the inorganic growth in the medium to long term.Zacks Investment Research
