Strong Earnings and Dividend
GAAP net income of $1.3 billion; distributable earnings of $1.8 billion ($1.36 per common share), up 25% year-over-year; declared dividend of $1.16 per share.
Blackstone Group
· BX
April 23rd, 2026
Summary
- Earnings Call Date:
- 2026-04-23
- Change Since:
- -5.80%
- Next Earnings Date:
- 2026-07-16
Earnings Call Sentiment
PositiveThe call highlights broad-based strength across earnings, fee growth, fundraising and AUM expansion, led by infrastructure, data centers and diversified credit and wealth momentum. Management acknowledged near-term headwinds from geopolitical volatility, slower realization activity, concentrated software valuation pressures and retail redemptions in some credit retail vehicles (BCRED). On balance, the firm's scale, recordable embedded performance revenue, strong institutional demand, fundraising successes and positioning in AI-related infrastructure outweigh the near-term execution and market headwinds.
Company Guidance
Management said it expects continued momentum and accelerating fee growth later in 2026 as fee‑holiday drawdown funds ramp and IPO/realization activity rebounds if the Middle East conflict abates (10‑Q filing expected in a few weeks). Q1 results cited as context included GAAP net income $1.3B, distributable earnings $1.8B ($1.36/share, +25% YoY), fee‑related earnings $1.5B ($1.26/share, +23% YoY), fee revenues $2.6B and management fees $2.1B, net realizations $448M (+26% YoY), gross performance revenues $780M (+70% YoY) and store value of $7B ($5.69/share) with performance‑eligible AUM $635B; overall AUM topped $1.3T (+12% YoY) with Q1 inflows $69B and ~ $250B LTM. They highlighted business‑level runways and fundraising wins—infrastructure $84B (+41% YoY), BXMA >$100B (+15% YoY; Q1 +1.7%, 24 consecutive positive quarters), credit $536B (+15% YoY; $130B investment‑grade, +23% YoY, $74B dry powder), private wealth $310B (+14% YoY)—but cautioned defaults may rise from historic lows even as they expect base rates to decline once the conflict is resolved.
Material Growth in Fee-Related Metrics
Fee-related earnings grew 23% YoY to $1.5 billion ($1.26 per share); fee revenues rose 20% YoY to $2.6 billion; total management fees reached a record $2.1 billion, up 13% YoY.
Recordable AUM and Large Inflows
Total assets under management exceeded $1.3 trillion, up 12% YoY; inflows of $69 billion in Q1 and nearly $250 billion over the last 12 months.
Exceptional Infrastructure and Data Center Performance
Infrastructure appreciated 7.8% in Q1 and 25% over the last 12 months; firm reports over $150 billion of data centers owned or under construction and a $160 billion prospective pipeline; dedicated infrastructure AUM grew 41% YoY to $84 billion.
Strong Fundraising Across Multiple Strategies
Life Sciences flagship (BXLX6) hit $6.3 billion hard cap (about +40% vs prior vintage); corporate private equity Asia flagship nearly $12 billion toward a $13 billion cap; secondaries raised $6 billion in Q1 (total $11 billion to date); opportunistic credit final close oversubscribed to >$10 billion investable capital.
Credit Platform Expansion and Performance
Total credit assets managed $536 billion, up 15% YoY with $40 billion of inflows in Q1; investment-grade private credit grew 23% YoY to ~$130 billion; non-investment-grade private credit strategies have generated ~9.4% net annual returns since inception (BCRE D figure cited).
Private Wealth Momentum
Private wealth AUM increased 14% YoY to $310 billion and is nearly threefold over 5 years; Q1 private wealth sales totaled $10 billion (including $7 billion into perpetual strategies); BREIT raised $1.2 billion in Q1 (up 44% YoY) and BXP raised $2.5 billion.
Resilient Investment Performance Across Many Portfolios
BXMA crossed $100 billion AUM, delivered 24th consecutive quarter of positive returns with 1.7% in Q1 and >12% LTM; corporate private equity appreciated 3.2% in Q1 and 16% LTM; non-investment-grade real estate credit appreciated 2.3% in Q1 and >14% LTM.
Increasing Embedded Earnings Power
Net accrued performance revenue up 9% YoY to $7 billion (equivalent to $5.69 per share); performance revenue eligible AUM grew 9% YoY to a record $635 billion.
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Blackstone First Quarter 2026 Investor Call. Today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Weston Tucker, Head of Shareholder Relations. Please go ahead.
Weston Tucker
Great. Thank you, Katie, and good morning, and welcome to Blackstone's first quarter conference call. Joining me today are Steve Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO; Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Michael Chae, Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release and slide presentation, which are available on our website. We expect to file our 10-Q report in a few weeks. I'd like to remind you that today's call may include forward-looking statements, which are uncertain and may differ from actual results materially. We do not undertake any duty to update these statements. For a discussion of some of the factors that could affect results, please see the Risk Factors section of our 10-K.
We'll also refer to non-GAAP measures, and you'll find reconciliations in the press release on the shareholders page of our website. Also note that nothing on this call constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any Blackstone fund. This audiocast is copyrighted material of Blackstone and may not be duplicated without consent. Quickly on results. We reported GAAP net income for the quarter of $1.3 billion. Distributable earnings were $1.8 billion or $1.36 per common share, and we declared a dividend of $1.16 per share which will be paid to holders of recor...
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