AllianceBernstein Reaping The Benefits Of Past Decisions

I'm pleased with how AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB) continues to perform. The units are up around 10% from when I last wrote about this company, the yield remains quite attractive, and better still the company is reporting improved revenue and profitability as decisions made years ago by prior management start to pay off for the company.

AllianceBernstein isn't, and never will be, suitable for everybody. AXA (OTCQX:AXAHY) owns a majority stake of the business and regular unitholders have virtually no say in the operation of the business. Moreover, the distributions from partnerships like this can have more complicated tax treatment than regular dividends. Even so, I believe AllianceBernstein is well-placed to continue bringing in assets under management and leveraging its existing infrastructure to generate higher margins and higher distributions for unitholders.

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AllianceBernstein Reaping The Benefits Of Past Decisions

Investopedia: AllianceBernstein Could Be Looking At A Long Turnaround

Reputation is a critical asset for asset management companies, and a few years of bad performance can take a very long time to reverse. That's one of the key challenges for AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE:AB), as this partnership is seeing ongoing outflows fueled by underwhelming fund performance. While these shares do offer a high yield and performance could improve if higher rates drive investors back into equity funds, the poor performance and rankings of the company's funds will likely weigh on results for some time.

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/AllianceBernstein-Could-Be-Looking-At-A-Long-Turnaround-AB-BEN-JNS-TROW0621.aspx

Investopedia: Questions Of Success And Value At Charles Schwab

It is an unfortunate reality of investing that figuring out whether a company is top-notch is not especially helpful in figuring out whether the stock is a top candidate to buy. True, it often makes sense to own the best businesses that you can find, but the metrics that mark quality and value are not the same. 

In the case of Charles Schwab (Nasdaq:SCHW) it is not hard to argue that this is one of the best brokerage and financial service companies out there. The trick, though, is in figuring out what that quality is worth and the probable path of earnings and cash flow in the coming years. As a growth stock, it looks intriguing, but a return-to-equity valuation shows a different sort of story. 


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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Questions-Of-Success-And-Value-At-Charles-Schwab-SCHW-AMTD-ETFC-TROW-BEN-BLK-IVZ-WDST0720.aspx