BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said on Thursday that his company missed earnings expectations as Wall Street analysts were “anticipating higher performance fees” on hedge funds.
Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock.
Photograph by Kris Tripplaar — Sipa USA/AP
Fink told CNBC television that the industry is seeing a rotation as clients re-evaluate high-fee funds but that withdrawals in the broader hedge-fund industry have not hit the company’s business.
The New York-based company’s net income fell to $657 million, or $3.92 per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $822 million, or $4.84 per share, a year earlier.
BlackRock attracted total long-term net inflows of $36.08 billion in the quarterly period, down from $70.44 billion in the same quarter of 2015.
On an adjusted basis, BlackRock earned $4.25 per share, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $4.29, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
In the last quarter of 2015, the company took in $54 billion into its funds despite weak and turbulent markets, driving profits higher. But the company nonetheless missed Wall Street analysts’ forecasts for that quarter.
BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded funds business took in $24.25 billion in new money in the latest quarter, down from $35.48 billion a year earlier.
The lion’s share invested in ETFs went into bonds as U.S. markets began the year with one of their roughest starts ever only to regain their footing in February.
Net investment in fixed income was $52.17 billion, while $2.15 billion went into alternative investments.
BlackRock ended the quarter with $4.74 trillion in assets under management, up from $4.65 trillion at the end of 2015.