I tell my clients if you’ve got to own financials only look at righteous names such as Bank of Hawaii (BOH), Westamerica (WABC), Cullen/Frost (CFR), Northern Trust (NTRS) or Bank of New York (BK).

Meanwhile, UBS resumed coverage of several financial stocks, with analyst Glenn Schorr assigning a neutral rating to JPMorgan and Citigroup, as well as Bank of New York Mellon (BK), Greenhill (GHL), Morgan Stanley (MS), Northern Trust (NTRS) and State Street (STT). Schorr also resumed coverage of Goldman Sachs (GS) with a buy rating. Read more here.

Northern Trust (NTRS) shares were sliding. For more, read TheStreet.com's article.

I’d look at Northern Trust (NTRS), adds Pete Najarian. If you look down deep their numbers are impressive.

Northern Trust's stock could rally 20% in the next year, to the mid-60s, as earnings -- and the bank's roster of clients -- grow. At 55, shares are off 38% from a September high.

Even against that tough backdrop, some banking stocks could do well. Trust and processing banks like Northern Trust (NTRS) and State Street (STT) have little credit exposure and trade at historically modest valuations. Northern Trust, at 52, fetches 13 times projected '09 profits, while State Street, at 43, trades at nine times estimated '09 earnings. Goldman Sachs just added Northern Trust to its Conviction Buy list, noting it has the "cleanest balance sheet" among the trust banks and a strong capital ratio. Goldman analyst Brian Foran's target is 64.

Outperform - Price 45.22 on Dec. 16
by Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller

NTRS plans to reduce its workforce by 4% after Jan. 1 (expected severance charge: $20 million to $25 million, or five cents to seven cents a share during 4Q). We believe NTRS is a valuable franchise whose consistency and conservatism and new-client inflows are particularly valuable now. We're changing our 4Q08 estimate to $1.03 (from $1.08), our FY08 estimate to $4.93 (from $4.97), FY09 to $4.05 (from $4.28) and '10 to $4.66 (from $4.85). Our target goes to 65 (from 70), which implies about 14 times our new '10 estimate. Our new estimates factor in the impact of [future] cost-savings and the TARP [Troubled Asset Relief Program] preferred-dividend burden. Market cap: $10.1 billion.

Northern Trust Corporation operates as the holding company for The Northern Trust Company that provides a range of banking and financial services to large and mid-sized corporations and financial institutions in the United States and internationally.

He said that if you want to stick to financials, look at Northern Trust(NTRS), State Street(STT) and USB(USB).

Northern Trust (NTRS) was downgraded from Buy to Hold, Deutsche Bank said. $80 price target. Stock has already seen a benefit from interest rate cuts, and does not have the cost-cutting benefits that its competitors that merged do.