Strong Financial Services Transaction Environment and Elevated Asset Prices Augur Well for Stifel

At this stage, Stifel Financial's business prospects depend on the fate of its global wealth and asset management segment, which accounted for 65% of 2025 revenue and 77% of operating profitability. Considering this, it's little surprise to see the firm prioritize growth in that segment and in Stifel Bancorp, which are effectively joined at the hip. The latter is funded by wealth management client deposits and derives a significant portion of its assets from security-based lending, margin lending, and mortgage lending to those customers. We view this tack as appropriate, particularly given a structurally weaker return profile in the capital markets business, which provides useful ecosystem services but grows less quickly and is intrinsically less profitable than core wealth management.