Sifting through countless of stocks in the Capital Markets industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in State Street Corporation or Northern Trust Corporation because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation

State Street Corporation provides various financial products and services to institutional investors. It offers custody, accounting, and fund administration services for traditional and alternative assets, as well as multi-asset class investments; recordkeeping, client reporting, and investment book of record, transaction management, loans, cash, derivatives, and collateral services; investor services operations outsourcing; performance, risk, and compliance analytics; financial data management to support institutional investors; foreign exchange, brokerage, and other trading services; securities finance, such as prime services products; and deposit and short-term investment facilities. The company also provides the State Street Alpha platform that combines portfolio management, trading and execution, analytics and compliance tools, and advanced data aggregation and integration with other industry platforms and providers; front-office technology that automates and simplifies the institutional investment process comprising portfolio management and risk analytics, trading, and post-trade settlement with integrated compliance and managed data; investment management solutions; and portfolio management, trading compliance, and manager/sponsor communication. In addition, it offers investment management solutions, such as strategies across equity, fixed income, cash, multi-asset, and alternatives; and ETFs, custom indexed, managed funds, and mandates. The company provides its products and services to mutual funds, collective investment funds and other investment pools, corporate and public retirement plans, insurance companies, wealth managers, investment managers, foundations, and endowments. The company was founded in 1792 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Northern Trust Corporation, a financial holding company, provides wealth management, asset servicing, asset management, and banking solutions for corporations, institutions, families, and individuals. It operates in two segments, Asset Servicing and Wealth Management. The Asset Servicing segment offers asset servicing and related services, including custody, fund administration, investment operations outsourcing, investment management, investment risk and analytics services, employee benefit services, securities lending, foreign exchange, treasury management, brokerage, transition management, banking, and cash management services. It serves corporate and public retirement funds, foundations, endowments, fund managers, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors. The Wealth Management segment offers trust, investment management, custody, and philanthropic services; financial consulting; guardianship and estate administration; family business consulting; family financial education; brokerage; and private and business banking services. This segment also provides global custody, fiduciary services, family office consulting, and technology solutions to high-net-worth individuals and families, business owners, executives, professionals, retirees, and established privately held businesses. In addition, it offers asset management and related services comprising active and passive equity; active and passive fixed income; cash management; multi-asset and alternative asset classes that include private equity and hedge funds of funds; and multi-manager advisory services and products through separately managed accounts, bank common and collective funds, registered investment companies, exchange-traded funds, non-U.S. collective investment funds, and unregistered private investment funds. Further, the company provides overlay and other risk management services. The company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Latest Capital Markets and State Street Corporation, Northern Trust Corporation Stock News

As of September 4, 2026, State Street Corporation had a $53.4 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.3 million. State Street Corporation’s stock is up 50.6% in 2026, up 0.5% in the previous five trading days and up 70.31% in the past year.

Currently, State Street Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 17.1. State Street Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $15.0 billion with a 23.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 18.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $13.694 per share for the current fiscal year. State Street Corporation currently has a 1.9% dividend yield.

As of September 4, 2026, Northern Trust Corporation had a $34.1 billion market cap, putting it in the 91st percentile of all stocks. Northern Trust Corporation’s stock is up 36.6% in 2026, down 0.1% in the previous five trading days and up 44.13% in the past year.

Currently, Northern Trust Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 16.1. Northern Trust Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $9.1 billion with a 24.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 36.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.421 per share for the current fiscal year. Northern Trust Corporation currently has a 1.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
State Street Corporation	STT	D
Northern Trust Corporation	NTRS	D

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

State Street Corporation has a Quality Score of 24, which is Weak. Northern Trust Corporation has a Quality Score of 27, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither State Street Corporation or Northern Trust Corporation has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if State Street Corporation or Northern Trust Corporation is the better investment when it comes to quality.

State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
State Street Corporation	STT	A
Northern Trust Corporation	NTRS	B

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

State Street Corporation has a Momentum Score of 83, which is Very Strong. Northern Trust Corporation has a Momentum Score of 72, which is Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: State Street Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, State Street Corporation is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Northern Trust Corporation. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, State Street Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
State Street Corporation	STT	B
Northern Trust Corporation	NTRS	B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

State Street Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 70, which is Positive. Northern Trust Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 67, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, both State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation have a grade of B. For those focusing solely on a company’s estimate revisions, other financial metrics will need to be evaluated to determine whether State Street Corporation or Northern Trust Corporation is a better fit.

Other State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation Grades

In addition to Quality, Estimate Revisions and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Growth.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, State Street Corporation or Northern Trust Corporation Stock?

Overall, State Street Corporation stock has a Momentum Score of 83, Estimate Revisions Score of 70 and Quality Score of 24.

Northern Trust Corporation stock has a Momentum Score of 72, Estimate Revisions Score of 67 and Quality Score of 27.

Comparing State Street Corporation and Northern Trust Corporation’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.