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, Principal Financial Group or Inc. 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, Principal Financial Group and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About State Street Corporation, Principal Financial Group and Inc.

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.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. provides retirement, asset management, and insurance products and services to businesses, individuals, and institutional clients worldwide. The company operates through Retirement and Income Solutions, Principal Asset Management, and Benefits and Protection segments. The Retirement and Income Solutions segment provides retirement, and related financial products and services. This segment offers products and services for defined contribution plans, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans, defined benefit plans, nonqualified executive benefit plans, employee stock ownership plans, equity compensation, and pension risk transfer services; individual retirement accounts; investment only products; and mutual funds, individual variable annuities, registered index-linked annuities, and bank products, as well as trust and custody services. The Principal Asset Management segment provides equity, fixed income, real estate, and other alternative investments, as well as fund offerings. This segment also offers pension accumulation products and services, mutual funds, asset management, income annuities, and life insurance accumulation products, as well as voluntary savings plans. The Benefits and Protection segment provides specialty benefits, such as specialty benefits group dental and vision insurance, group life and other insurance, and group and individual disability insurance, as well as administers group dental, disability, and vision benefits; and individual life insurance products comprising universal, variable universal, indexed universal, and term life insurance products. This segment serves insurance solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and their owners, as well as employees. The company was founded in 1879 and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Latest Capital Markets and State Street Corporation, Principal Financial Group, Inc. Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, State Street Corporation had a $51.6 billion market capitalization, compared to the Capital Markets median of $3.2 million. State Street Corporation’s stock is up 47.8% in 2026, down 1.5% in the previous five trading days and up 63.34% in the past year.

Currently, State Street Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 16.6. 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 2.0% dividend yield.

As of September 1, 2026, Principal Financial Group, Inc. had a $23.4 billion market cap, putting it in the 87th percentile of all stocks. Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s stock is up 26.6% in 2026, down 0.5% in the previous five trading days and up 35.83% in the past year.

Currently, Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 15.6. Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $15.7 billion with a 9.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 6.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $9.522 per share for the current fiscal year. Principal Financial Group, Inc. currently has a 3.1% dividend yield.

How We Compare State Street Corporation, Principal Financial Group and Inc. 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, Principal Financial Group and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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State Street Corporation, Principal Financial Group and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
State Street Corporation	STT	C
Principal Financial Group, Inc.	PFG	A

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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

State Street Corporation has a Value Score of 41, which is Average. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a Value Score of 81, which is Deep Value.

The Value Stock Winner: Principal Financial Group, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Principal Financial Group, Inc. is considered to have better value than State Street Corporation. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Principal Financial Group, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. 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, Principal Financial Group and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
State Street Corporation	STT	A
Principal Financial Group, Inc.	PFG	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. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 68, 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 Principal Financial Group, Inc.. 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, Principal Financial Group and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
State Street Corporation	STT	B
Principal Financial Group, Inc.	PFG	C

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 77, which is Positive. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 52, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: State Street Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, State Street Corporation has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Principal Financial Group, Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, State Street Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other State Street Corporation, Principal Financial Group and Inc. Grades

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

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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite 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 F-Score.

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, Principal Financial Group and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, State Street Corporation, Principal Financial Group or Inc. Stock?

Overall, State Street Corporation stock has a Value Score of 41, Momentum Score of 83 and Estimate Revisions Score of 77.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 81, Momentum Score of 68 and Estimate Revisions Score of 52.

Comparing State Street Corporation, Principal Financial Group and Inc.’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.