BlackRock the world’s largest investment management company kicked off first quarter earnings on Tuesday with the largest money center bank JP Morgan. $BLK reported net income of $1.4 billion, or $9.35 a share, for the first quarter, up 20% from $1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier. The bearishness in the markets lowered the firm’s assets under management to $9.6 trillion.
BlackRock Q1 2022
Q1 2022 earnings before the bell; conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET Tuesday
- Net income of $1.4 billion, or $9.35 a share, for the first quarter, up 20% from $1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier. BlackRock exceeded analyst expectations of a per-share profit of $8.60, according to analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
- Revenue rose 7% to $4.7 billion, slightly below analysts’ estimates of $4.76 billion.
- Money manager’s revenue from performance fees decreased $31 million from a year ago.
- BlackRock’s base management fees was a main driver for the revenue growth.
- Management-fee revenue increased 6.7%, or $241 million.
- Revenue from its suite of software tools, Aladdin, was a driver as well, which rose 11%, or $35 million.
BlackRock income from its ETF and investment management income continues to soar being the largest investment management company in the world with assets under management.
BlackRock is a top provider of exchange-traded funds and other low-cost alternatives that track market indexes. The firm’s actively managed funds are its higher-fee products, made up nearly half of the manager’s fees last quarter, despite making up about one-quarter of BlackRock’s total assets under management.
Circle Internet Financial
Yesterday Blackrock said it was participating in a $400 million funding round for Circle Internet Financial, a cryptocurrency firm that issues digital assets pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Fidelity Investments, Marshall Wace Asset Management and Fin Capital also participated in the funding round. Prior to the investment, BlackRock already managed some of the cash, and cash equivalent reserves for its USD coin. In
his annual letter to shareholders in March, BlackRock Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Fink predicted that the Ukraine war could boost usage of digital currencies.
On a conference call with analysts Larry Fink, BlackRock’s CEO,
“As you know, I always said—I don’t believe in divestiture,” Mr. Fink said, referring to his firm’s stance on energy transition for the fossil companies it invests in. “BlackRock has over $180 billion in investments in [energy], so we are working with all the companies about how to move forward.”
“Let me be clear, BlackRock is the largest investor for pension funds and retirement than anyone. We have a long-term responsibility of making sure that our beneficiaries achieve their long-term aspirations and goals. There is no question that this energy transition is real, but it’s not going to be a straight line.”
BlackRock last quarter announced that it is pulling $2 trillion of assets that had been managed by State Street (NYSE: STT). BlackRock says it will reduce its reliance on a single outside investment manager and help to lower its costs for back-office workers. BlackRock said it plans to move the administrative and accounting tasks that State Street had performed to other lenders, such as Citigroup and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK).
Source: JPM, WFC, C, BLK,
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