BlackRock (BLK) Tops Q3 EPS by 55c

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) reported Q3 EPS of $5.21, $0.55 better than the analyst estimate of $4.66. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.85 billion versus the consensus estimate of $2.84 billion.

“BlackRock’s unique business model, combining active and index products on a single platform alongside Aladdin’s industry-leading risk management and analytics capabilities, once again delivered strong results in the third quarter,” commented Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock. “We continue to invest in our platform and our team in order to enhance our business model and position BlackRock to capture market opportunities – and most importantly, to partner with our clients to help them meet their investment goals.

“The commitment we made six years ago to rebuild our fixed income business is now showing results. With 87% of BlackRock’s taxable fixed income assets outperforming their benchmark or peer median over the three-year period – including our top-decile Total Return Fund – and the breadth of our offerings across both active and index strategies, we are delivering investment outperformance to our clients as they navigate a challenging global interest rate environment. We once again saw strong interest in our global unconstrained fixed income platform in the third quarter, raising more than $4 billion of net new flows in our Strategic Income Opportunities and Fixed Income Global Opportunities funds, collectively, and that momentum has continued into the fourth quarter.

“As client demand for investment solutions continues to increase, BlackRock’s multi-asset franchise is a key differentiator. Our team-based culture enables our multi-asset managers to benefit from the best alpha engines and risk management capabilities BlackRock has to offer, to construct portfolios that go beyond traditional benchmarks to deliver outcomes to clients. In the third quarter, we raised $7.4 billion of net new flows in multi-asset strategies, driven by our flagship global franchises: Multi-asset Income, Global Allocation and our LifePath target-date funds.

“In iShares, we saw net new flows of $18.2 billion, driven by strong equity flows into the Core Series and demand for emerging markets and Asian equities, and we have seen elevated interest in our iShares fixed income platform as clients look for options to maintain exposure to the broad fixed income market in the current environment.

“BlackRock has never been better positioned to meet the varying needs of global investors. Our process, our people and our culture set us apart. We leverage our global reach, including the insight-sharing benefits of the BlackRock Investment Institute and the international scope of our platform, to generate durable alpha. We take full advantage of our Aladdin risk management and analytics capabilities to manufacture and deliver investment solutions. We are intensely focused on building on the strength of our leadership team – the management changes we announced in the second quarter are contributing to positive change across the organization. And we have a team-based investment philosophy, with no centralized CIO or single decision-maker, which empowers our One BlackRock culture to drive our business.

“We remain intensely focused on performance, on continuing to enhance our differentiated platform and on developing talent at all levels of the organization so that we can be the most trusted advisor for our clients as they build their financial futures. Our people are critical to our success and I want to once again thank BlackRock employees for their commitment to delivering excellence to our clients and shareholders.”

Cash management AUM increased 5% to $281.0 billion.

Advisory AUM decreased 24% to $23.2 billion due to disposition portfolio liquidations. The execution of these liquidations contributed to BlackRock Solutions® and advisory revenue in the quarter.

(1) Past performance is not indicative of future results. The performance information shown is based on preliminary available data. Please refer to performance disclosure detail.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on BlackRock (BLK) click here.

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