BlackRock’s better-than-expected quarterly results Tuesday helped push the stock to a fresh record high. The market sees what we see: The asset manager’s pursuit of growth beyond lower-cost stock and bond funds is bearing fruit. Revenue in the third quarter rose 25% year over year to $6.51 billion, topping the $6.22 billion estimate, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in the three months ended Sept. 30 totaled $11.55, ahead of the $11.24 consensus, LSEG data showed. Assets under management (AUM) at the end of the quarter reached a record $13.463 trillion, outpacing the Bloomberg consensus of $13.375 trillion. BlackRock shares were up about 2% in midday trading, to roughly $1,179 apiece, defying the downbeat broader market, which was weighed down by rising U.S.-China trade tensions. The stock is on track to eclipse its Sept. 29 record close of $1,175.56. BLK YTD mountain BlackRock’s year-to-date stock performance. Bottom line A year ago this month, we bent our investment discipline to initiate a stake in BlackRock , convinced by another stellar earnings report that it belonged in the portfolio as the iShares ETF operator pursued new growth areas like alternative assets. It didn’t pay off right away: the tariff-driven market swoon earlier this year and a noisy July earnings print were far from ideal. But things have been looking up. The stock has outperformed the S & P 500 since the July 15 close, the day of BlackRock’s roughly 6% slide on earnings. From that day forward, shares have risen more than 10%, versus a roughly 6.5% advance for the S & P 500 and a mere 2% gain for the index’s financial sector. Enter Tuesday’s earnings release, which is much cleaner than the July report and reinforces our confidence in longtime CEO Larry Fink’s vision for the firm. With a series of acquisitions and new endeavors, Fink is positioning 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. The company also bolstered its technology business serving investment pros. The past few volatile days notwithstanding, the broader market rally that’s lifted stocks to a series of record highs in recent months is also a boon for BlackRock, which collects more in fees when asset prices are rising. “BlackRock was exactly the dream quarter that we got in [the stock] for,” Jim Cramer said on Tuesday’s Morning Meeting. It was the culmination of all these deals they’ve made over the past year, added Jeff Marks, the Club’s director of portfolio analysis. BlackRock’s $12 billion acquisition of private credit manager HPS Investment Partners closed on July 1. Its $3.2 billion purchase of alternatives data provider Preqin was finalized in March. Meanwhile, BlackRock bought Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which owns part of London’s Gatwick Airport and other assets like pipelines and data centers, for $12.5 billion in…
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