Back to top

Image: Shutterstock

Blackstone's Q3 Earnings Beat on AUM Growth, Shares Hit All-Time High

Read MoreHide Full Article

Shares of Blackstone (BX - Free Report) soared to an all-time high of $172.25 during intraday trading on Thursday in response to its third-quarter 2024 results. The bullish investor stance on BX resulted from a jump in the company’s assets under management (AUM) balance, which boosted quarterly earnings.

Stay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.

BX’s distributable earnings of $1.01 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 91 cents. Also, the figure reflected a rise of 7% from the prior-year quarter.
 

Blackstone Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Blackstone Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Blackstone Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Blackstone Inc. Quote

Total segment revenues were $2.43 billion, up 5% year over year. Further, the top line outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.42 billion. On a GAAP basis, BX’s revenues were $3.66 billion, up 44%. The increase was driven by a solid improvement in total AUM and fee-earning AUM during the quarter.

Higher AUM Drives Blackstone’s Revenues

As of Sept. 30, 2024, BX’s fee-earning AUM jumped 12% year over year to $820.5 billion. Total AUM was 10% to $1.11 trillion. 

Blackstone recorded net inflows of $40.5 billion in the quarter, bringing the last 12-month number to $166.7 billion. Quarterly gains were driven by the Credit and Insurance segment, which witnessed inflows of $21.4 billion.

Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO, said, “Blackstone reported strong third-quarter results, highlighted by broad-based acceleration across our business. We invested or committed $54 billion in the quarter — the highest in over two years — and deployed $123 billion in the last twelve months since the cost of capital peaked. The third quarter also represented the highest amount of overall fund appreciation in three years, and our limited partners entrusted us with over $40 billion of inflows.”
 
The rise in AUM was driven by a robust equity market performance in the third quarter. With the Federal Reserve starting monetary policy easing and the economic outlook remaining solid, Blackstone was able to deploy and commit almost $54 billion of capital.

As of Sept. 30, 2024, Blackstone had undrawn capital available for investment or ‘total dry powder’ of $171.6 billion.

Total Dry Powder
 

Blackstone Inc.
Image Source: Blackstone Inc.

Driven by improvement in AUM balance and solid quarterly inflows, BX’s net management and advisory fees (the largest component of GAAP revenues) rose 8% to $1.79 billion in the third quarter.

In the third quarter of 2024, Blackstone’s total expenses (GAAP basis) were $$1.9 billion, which soared 38% year over year. The primary reason for the drastic rise in expenses was a 52% surge in compensation and benefits costs.

Further, as of Sept. 30, 2024, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company had $8.9 billion in total cash, cash equivalents and corporate treasury investments, and $18.7 billion in cash and net investments. The company has a $4.3-billion undrawn credit revolver. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Earnings Dates & Expectations of BX’s Peers

Invesco (IVZ - Free Report) is scheduled to announce third-quarter 2024 numbers on Oct. 22.

Over the past week, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for IVZ’s quarterly earnings has moved 2.3% north to 44 cents. Also, the figure reflects a jump of 25.7% from the prior-year reported number.

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW - Free Report) is slated to report third-quarter 2024 results on Nov. 1.

Over the past seven days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for TROW’s quarterly earnings has been revised almost 1% upward to $2.33. The figure indicates 7.4% growth from the prior-year quarter.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Blackstone Inc. (BX) - free report >>

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW) - free report >>

Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) - free report >>

Published in