Ameriprise Maintains Bullish Outlook After BofA Stock Downgrade

Ameriprise Financial is retaining a positive perspective about its advisor attrition, as Chief Executive Officer Jim Cracchiolo dismisses criticism from industry recruiters. 

“There’s a lot of noise out there from anonymous sources, from recruiters with their own agendas,” Cracchiolo said Thursday on its third-quarter earnings call. 

He also reiterated that Ameriprise does not have an advisor retention program and that productivity levels with exiting advisors is strong — even going on to say that advisors “actually thank us for bringing them in.” 

The pushback comes a little over a week after Bank of America analysts downgraded Ameriprise’s stock by two grades from a “buy” to an “underperform,” in a report by the bank’s Global Research team. 

Research analysts Kareem Seif, Craig Siegenthaler, Eli Abboud and Ivory Gao cited large advisor departures, particularly to the registered investment advisor channel, as a key indicator for the downgrade.  

The report also disclosed that despite Ameriprise’s advisor count growing 0.7% year-over-year last year, the firm’s stock “should inflect negative in 2026,” not including Ameriprise’s recent gains from its partnership with Huntington National Bank. 

In the second quarter, Ameriprise stated Comerica’s departure resulted in a loss of $19 billion in total client assets. Comerica was acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp last October. 

However, the firm’s addition of Huntington National Bank brings 260 advisors and $28 billion in assets to Ameriprise’s platform. 

Cracchiolo said that it’s inevitable the industry will experience advisor movement and that “every advisor’s practice is different,” but highlights the broker-dealer’s position putting emphasis on the advisors it already has. 

“We work with advisors to understand what they’re looking to do and grow,” Cracchiolo said. “We evaluate arrangements with the advisors to help them achieve their objectives, whether that’s through practice acquisition, succession strategies, and liquidity.” 

Meanwhile, Ameriprise added another 79 advisors in the quarter, after the firm welcomed the same number of advisors in the second quarter. 

Ameriprise’s adjusted operating net revenues for the advice and wealth management unit were about $3.4 billion at the end of September, up 13% on a year-over-year basis. 

Pretax adjusted operating earnings for the unit were $989 million, up 12% on a year-over-year basis.