BlackRock Sees Strong Fourth Quarter as Revenue and Earnings Top Estimates
BlackRock reported third-quarter revenue of $7.75 billion, up 19% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $15.93, both above analyst consensus. Management expects momentum to continue into the seasonally strong fourth quarter and said it plans at least $550 million in share repurchases, subject to market conditions and capital spending plans.
BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) said it expects momentum to carry into the seasonally strong fourth quarter, citing broad activity across iShares, private markets, retirement and international platforms. The comments came during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Management said BlackRock remains on track to meet its long-term targets for organic base fee growth, operating margin expansion and EPS.
The company repurchased $550 million of shares in the third quarter of 2026 and expects to buy back at least another $550 million in the fourth quarter. The planned repurchases are subject to market conditions and capital spending plans, and are consistent with guidance issued in July. BlackRock cited growth opportunities in the convergence of public and private markets, increased investment in AI infrastructure, and rising demand for investment technology and data. Management also expects private credit demand to remain strong, particularly among insurers seeking high-grade investment solutions.
Activity could accelerate toward year-end and into 2027. BlackRock raised $68 billion in Over the past 12 months, private markets activity included $25 billion in private credit during HPS’s first full year with BlackRock. The company’s AI infrastructure partnership completed its first deployment when the Align Data Center transaction closed, with enterprise value of approximately $40 billion. BlackRock also partnered with Meta Platforms, Inc.
(NASDAQ: META) to finance its planned $14 billion Texas data center. The arrangement combines Global Infrastructure Partners’ infrastructure expertise with private financing capabilities, including HPS. BlackRock sees additional opportunities to finance customers expanding computing capacity. It expects to begin with private placements for high-grade insurance mandates, with the potential to later offer securitized, tradable investments to a broader group of investors.
Management said the firm will apply its technology, data, scale and investment expertise to develop standardized performance measures and risk analytics for computing capacity as an emerging asset class. 75 billion. 52 billion. 13 consensus estimate.
P. 47 billion estimate, partly because of higher performance fees. Cho said BlackRock’s third-quarter results beat expectations, with strong inflows across most businesses. 40 at the time of publication on Wednesday.