BlackRock shares jumped on Thursday after the world’s largest asset manager reported a better-than-expected quarter — capping off what the company described as “one of the strongest years” ever. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 rose 23% year over year to $7 billion, topping the $6.69 billion estimate, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share in the three months ended Dec 31 increased to $13.16, ahead of the $12.21 consensus, LSEG data showed. Assets under management at the end of the quarter reached a record $14.04 trillion, outpacing the Bloomberg consensus of $13.94 trillion. BLK 1Y mountain BlackRock 1 year Shares of BlackRock popped 6% on Thursday to just over $1,150 each, pushing their year-to-date gain to about 8%. The early 2026 outperformance followed a tough 2025. BlackRock was able to mount a steady recovery from last year’s April lows to a record-high close above $1,200 in mid-October. However, the stock struggled into year-end, and only gained 4.4% in 2025 compared to the S & P 500 ‘s more than 16% advance last year. Bottom line The BlackRock quarter was an important decision point for its standing in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio we use for the CNBC Investing Club. After selling nearly half of our position near the start of the year, we indicated on Wednesday that the stock would be on the chopping block if it didn’t deliver with earnings. These results passed our test. One way to figure out BlackRock’s earnings power is by reviewing its net inflows and organic base fee growth. Both metrics cleared the bar. BlackRock is gobbling up assets. It brought in $342 billion of net inflows during the fourth quarter, about $80 billion more than what analysts forecasted. For the year, it set a record of $698 billion of net inflows, driven by $527 billion of flows into iShares exchange-traded funds and index mutual funds. The company’s private market platform delivered $40 billion of full-year net inflows, led by private credit and infrastructure. That number may seem small, but it should materially increase in the coming years as it deploys more capital across private markets. The company is targeting $400 billion in gross private markets fundraising through 2030. We have been big fans of management’s strategy to push into private markets because those assets command higher fees than commodity index funds. “No firm has the combination of public markets, now private markets, and investment technology. So we’re able to provide a whole portfolio, a complete relationship,” BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink told Jim and the “Squawk on the Street” crew in an interview shortly after earnings. The 73-year-old co-founder has positioned BlackRock as a one-stop shop asset manager, offering investment products spanning not just publicly traded stocks and bonds, but cryptocurrencies, private credit, and infrastructure assets. This strategy has paid off. Annualized organic base fee growth accelerated to 12% in Q4 from 10%…
Read More: BlackRock’s earnings pass our test with flying colors. What about 2026?