Blackstone Swings to Record Profit in Q1’21

Summary

• The investment company posted a profit of US$1.75 billion against a loss of US$1.07 billion in the year-ago period.
• Total revenue during the quarter came in at US$5.30 billion, compared to the negative US$3.08 billion in the first quarter last year.
• The value of Blackstone’s private equity segment increased 15.3 percent in the three months.
• Blackstone’s stock, which has grown around 28 percent YTD, rallied to its 52-week high of US$84.47 on Thursday.

Asset management company Blackstone (NYSE:BX) on April 23 posted a record profit of US$1.75billion for the first quarter ended March 31. Diluted EPS jumped to US$2.46 in the quarter.

The New York-based company had reported a loss of US$1.07 billion, or US$1.58 per share in the year-ago period.

Blackstone’s total revenue during the quarter came in at US$5.30 billion, compared to the negative US$3.08 billion in the first quarter last year. The company had reported an investment loss of US$4.20 billion in the year-ago period.

Total asset under management, or AUM, totaled US$648.80 billion, up 21 percent year over year. Fee-earning assets under manager also grew 14 percent to US$481.22 billion.

Distributable earnings rose 114 percent year over year to US$1.2 billion, or 96 cents per share. Fee-related earnings came in at US$741 million, or 62 cents per share, up 58 percent year over year.

Source: Pixabay

Segment wise results

Blackstone’s total AUM in the real estate segment rose 22 percent year over year to US$196.3 billion with US$8.6 billion inflows during the quarter. Real estate distributable earnings soared 102 percent to US$540.8 million.

Blackstone’s private equity value increased 15.3 percent during the quarter. Total AUM in the private equity segment grew 21 percent to US$211.8 billion. Private equity distributable earnings jumped 160 percent to US$474.84 billion.

Meanwhile, total AUM in hedge fund solutions was US$81.8 billion, up 11 percent. The distributable earnings in this segment rose 107 percent to US$157.01 million.

The credit and insurance segment recorded 24 percent growth in AUM to US$158.9 billion while it doubled distributable earnings to US$116.7 million.

Share Performance

Shares of Blackstone rallied to its 52-week high of US$84.47 on Thursday. The shares ended trading on April 23 at US$82.96, up 3.30 percent.

In 2020, Blackstone saw its share price fall around 13 percent. The shares hit a 52-week low of US$46.57 in April 2020.

However, the stock jumped approximately 28 percent year to date.