If you’ve been wondering if Stifel Financial is still a smart place to put fresh money to work, you’re not alone. This breakdown will focus directly on what you are really getting for the current stock price.
The stock has continued to reward patient holders, with shares up about 2.5% over the past week, 8.5% over the past month, 21.2% year-to-date and 21.9% over the past year, on top of multi-year gains.
On the back of these moves, Stifel has expanded its wealth management and investment banking footprint, adding financial advisors and increasing its presence in key US markets. The firm has also continued to invest in technology and platform capabilities that support higher-margin advisory and capital markets work, which may help justify a richer valuation than in the past.
Even so, our structured valuation checks suggest that Stifel scores just 2 out of 6 undervaluation. This makes it important to unpack what different valuation methods actually tell us about the potential upside here, and to conclude by looking at a more holistic way of thinking about value that goes beyond the usual models.
Stifel Financial scores just 2/6 on our rating checks. See what other red flags we found in our full assessment breakdown.
The Excess Returns model looks at how much profit Stifel generates above the minimum return that stock investors demand, then capitalizes those excess returns into a fair value per share.
For Stifel, the starting point is a book value of $49.74 per share and stable EPS of $6.82 per share based on the average return on equity over the last 5 years. With an average return on equity of 11.62% and a cost of equity of $5.01 per share, the model estimates an excess return of $1.82 per share. This means that the business earns significantly more than the investors demand from the capital base.
A stable book value of $58.73 per share, drawn from weighted future book value estimates from 2 analysts, is then combined with those additional returns to arrive at an intrinsic value of approximately $93.28 per share. Compared to the current market price, this suggests that the stock is about 37.9% overvalued in this frame.
Result: Overrated
Our Excess Return analysis suggests that Stifel Financial could be overvalued by 37.9%. Discover 902 undervalued stocks or create your own screener to find better value opportunities.
SF’s discounted cash flow in December 2025
Go to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this fair value for Stifel Financial.
For a profitable and established firm like Stifel Financial, the price-to-earnings ratio is a practical way to assess value because it ties what investors are paying directly to the company’s current earning power. In general, faster growth and lower perceived risk may justify a higher PE, while slower growth or higher risk should mean a lower, more conservative multiple.
Stifel currently trades on a PE of approximately 20.9x, which is slightly below the capital markets industry average of approximately 25.7x and very close to the peer group average of approximately 21.2x. Simply Wall St’s Fair Ratio framework goes a step further by estimating what PE Stifel should trade for given its specific mix of earnings growth, industry positioning, profit margins, market capitalization and risk profile. On that basis, Stifel’s equity ratio is 16.3x, meaning the stock is trading well above what those fundamentals would typically warrant, even if they look reasonable relative to peers.
Result: Overrated
NYSE:SF PE Ratio as of December 2025
PE ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover 1,459 companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.
Earlier we mentioned that there’s an even better way to understand valuation, so let us introduce you to Narratives, which are simply the stories investors tell about a company, which are then tied directly to numbers like future revenue, earnings, margins, and an estimate of fair value. A Simply Wall St narrative ties three things together in one place: the business story, a financial forecast, and a resulting fair value per share, giving you a clear picture of what needs to happen in the future for your thesis to be right. The narratives live on the Community page on Simply Wall St, where millions of investors can build and compare their own views, and dynamically update when new information, such as news, earnings or guidance, changes the perspective. This makes it easier to decide when to buy or sell because you can continuously compare each narrative’s fair value to today’s price and see if the gap is closing or opening. For example, some Stifel Narratives see upside at around $132 per share, while others assume closer to $105, reflecting different expectations for adviser growth, margins and valuation multiples.
Do you think there is more to the story for Stifel Financial? Go to our community to see what others are saying!
NYSE:SF 1 Year Stock Price Chart
This article from Simply Wall St is general in nature. We only provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts using an unbiased methodology, and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell shares and does not take into account your goals or your financial situation. We aim to provide you with focused long-term analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest price-sensitive company announcements or quality materials. Simply Wall St has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
Companies discussed in this article include SF.
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