BlackRock (BLK.US)'s Q3 performance exceeded expectations, and the scale of asset management increased 15% year-on-year to a record high

The Zhitong Finance App learned that BlackRock (BLK.US) announced the results for the third quarter of 2026 in advance of the US stock market on October 14. Revenue for the quarter was US$7.752 billion, up 19% year on year, higher than market expectations of US$7.4 billion to US$7.52 billion; adjusted earnings per share were US$15.93, up 38% year over year, more than 11% higher than the expected range of market expectations (US$14.10 to US$14.32). Under GAAP, net profit was US$1,659 million and diluted earnings per share were US$10.57, up 25% year over year.

The scale and capital flow are the biggest highlights of this season. As of September 30, the company's assets under management (AUM) reached a record of US$15.49 trillion, an increase of 15% over the previous year; the net inflow for the third quarter was US$205 billion, of which iShareSETF had a net inflow of US$135 billion, a net inflow of active products of US$66.4 billion, and a net outflow of institutional index products of US$27.4 billion. The cumulative net inflow over the past 12 months was 869 billion US dollars, corresponding to a 10% increase in the organic basic rate; the annualized organic basic rate increased 11% in the third quarter.

Profitability improved at the same time. The adjusted operating profit was US$3.33 billion, up 27% year on year; the adjusted operating margin was 47.8%, an increase of 320 basis points over the same period last year. Technology service and subscription revenue was US$588 million, an increase of 14% year over year, and the annualized contract value of the technology business increased 12%. The company repurchased US$550 million of shares during the quarter and paid a dividend of US$5.73 per share.

Note that GAAP operating profit for the quarter was US$2,328 million and operating margin of 30.0%, the same as the same period last year. It was mainly affected by changes in non-cash or fair value of US$564 million. This has been removed from the adjusted results. The company also said that the private market raised 68 billion US dollars in the past 12 months, and the AI infrastructure partnership platform completed its first deployment this quarter.

CEO Larry Fink said in a statement: “The global economy's demand for capital is growing, and BlackRock is increasingly at the core of how capital is allocated and managed.”

The company underwent a major transformation and went deeper into the higher-rate private equity market, and now it's been over a year. The company completed a $12 billion acquisition of alternative credit specialist HPS Investment Partners in July 2025, marking the third step in the major expansion of the stock and bond giant to catch up with private equity market leaders.

For the first time, the latest quarterly results include data for the same period last year, including HPS results. After taking over Global Infrastructure Partners (Global Infrastructure Partners) and private data company Preqin, BlackRock also acquired this finance company.

BlackRock has been trying to break away from the traditional asset management company label by emphasizing its growth in the private equity market and selling risk management and technical analysis services to financial clients.

After the financial report was announced, BlackRock's pre-market share price rose by about 3.3% as of press release.