Lazard's (LAZ) February AUM Down 2.8% on Challenging Markets

BEN AB LAZ

Lazard Ltd. (LAZ - Free Report) recorded a 2.8% decrease in preliminary assets under management (AUM) as of Feb 28, from the previous month’s reading. The total AUM balance aggregated $224.16 billion, marking a decline from $230.64 billion reported in January 2023.

The February AUM entailed a market depreciation of $2.8 billion, foreign-exchange depreciation of $2.9 billion and net outflows of $0.8 billion.

Lazard’s equity AUM for February decreased 3% from the prior month to $174.02 billion. Also, fixed-income AUM of $44.81 billion decreased 2.3% sequentially. Further, other assets declined marginally to $5.33 billion.

Lazard’s AUM balance has decreased year over year by 10.9% from $251.57 billion in February 2023 due to a challenging market backdrop. Also, increased dependence on advisory revenues makes it vulnerable to economic doldrums. Further, continued net outflows over the past months are major concerns.

The stock has lost 9.7% over the past six months compared with a 2.7% decline of the industry.

Currently, Lazard carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB - Free Report) has announced AUM for February 2023. The company’s preliminary month-end AUM of $665 billion decreased 2.2% from the end of January 2023.

Market depreciation resulted in a fall in AB’s AUM balance. This was partly offset by total firm-wide net inflows.

Franklin Resources (BEN - Free Report) reported preliminary AUM of $1,416.5 billion for February 2023. This indicated a fall of 2.4% from the Jan 31, 2023, level.

For Franklin, the decrease in the reported month’s AUM reflected the impact of negative markets. These were partially offset by long-term net inflows, which included the previously disclosed $7.5 billion institutional mandate invested across fixed-income strategies.

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