The firm has "been dealing for a while" with balancing recruiting and retirements, according to Chief Executive Officer Ron Kruszewski.
Stifel Financial is confident in its recruiting ability despite a lack of positive movement in its advisor count, according to Chief Executive Officer Ron Kruszewski.
"Overall, I'm probably as optimistic about the recruiting landscape as I've been," he said Wednesday on the firm's earnings call for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
Stifel's advisor count was 2,357 at the end of September, down 0.1% compared to the previous quarter and down 0.7% compared to the year-ago quarter, according to the firm's latest earnings report. The firm added 28 advisors in the quarter, including 13 "experienced" advisors with total trailing 12-month production of $10.5 million, according to the report.
Stifel has "been dealing for a while" with balancing advisor recruiting and retirements, according to Kruszewski, who said that the firm has "seen net growth, although on a net basis it appears muted." The firm is seeing increased advisor productivity because it's retaining clients and adding more productive advisors, he added.
Kruszewski cited Stifel's transition support as key to its ability to compete in recruiting.
"I've seen our relative offering especially on the transition side being more competitive. I think rates probably have something to do with that, or at least we're seeing that trend. And we're talking to as many productive teams as we ever have, and so I'm optimistic," he said.
Kruszewski acknowledged that the upcoming fourth quarter tends to be "a muted quarter" because "you really close the transition window in early December." However, he said that with "the number of people visiting us who we're talking to, I feel really good about our continued growth of that business and the addition of high-quality advisors to our platform."
Stifel has reportedly held talks with investment bank B. Riley Financial about acquiring the latter's wealth management business, which B. Riley could sell for more than $100 million. Doing so would add about $25.8 billion in client assets and more than 400 advisors, according to company filings.
Stifel had about $496.3 billion in total client assets at the end of the latest quarter, up 4.7% quarterly and up 20.3% from the year-ago quarter, according to its earnings report. Fee-based client assets were about $190.8 billion at the end of the latest quarter, up 6.1% quarterly and up 26.4% from the year-ago quarter, according to the latest earnings report.
Stifel remains committed to a goal of reaching $1 trillion in client assets, Kruszewski said Wednesday. He initially articulated that goal in January 2022, when the firm reported about $436 billion in total client assets. Stifel aims to reach that goal within a decade, Kruszewski said in April.
Total revenue for the latest quarter was about $1.5 billion, up 0.7% quarterly and up 16.6% from the year-ago quarter. Net revenues were about $1.2 billion, up 0.6% quarterly and up 17.2% from the year-ago quarter.