Blackstone posted a beat on overall earnings in Q1 2026, but the stock still fell as investors zeroed in on weak returns inside its private credit business.
$BX ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐: ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ญ, ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ, ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฌ
โข EPS: $0.83
โข Revenue: $3.62B (Est. $3.40B)
โข Fee-related EPS: $1.26
โข Distributable EPS: $1.36
โข AUM: $1.304T (Est. $1.292T)
โข Capital deployed:โฆโ alldaystocks | 24/7 Market News (@allday_stocks) April 23, 2026
The worldโs largest alternative asset manager reported distributable earnings of $1.76 billion, or $1.36 per share โ above the $1.34 consensus estimate. Total revenue climbed 10% to $3.62 billion.
Despite the earnings beat, BX dropped 4.7% Thursday morning to $123.60, against a 0.2% decline in the S&P 500.
Assets under management closed the quarter at $1.3 trillion, a 12% year-over-year increase. Blackstone pulled in $68.5 billion in new assets during the quarter.
Private credit and insurance accounted for nearly half of those inflows, drawing $37 billion. But returns in that division were some of the weakest on record.
Blackstoneโs private credit funds posted zero net returns after fees for the quarter. Its bank loan portfolio fell 1.4%. Distributable earnings from the division dropped 26% to $373 million.
The firmโs flagship non-traded credit fund, BCRED, saw redemptions from investors holding about 7% of its $47 billion in net assets in March alone.
President Jonathan Gray pushed back on negative coverage of private credit. He pointed out that BCRED has returned 9.4% since launch five years ago, outperforming more liquid credit categories over the same period.
Gray said the redemptions were driven by a small number of large individual investors, not a broad-based retreat. He added that institutional investors โ insurers and pension funds โ have continued to allocate to private credit.
He also drew a parallel to BREIT, Blackstoneโs real estate fund, which faced similar redemption pressure a year ago before stabilizing.
Infrastructure investments were the standout of the quarter. Blackstoneโs infrastructure arm posted gross returns of 7.8% for Q1 and nearly 25% over the past 12 months.
CEO Stephen Schwarzman said the firm has been investing in AI since 2015, well before the current wave of large language models. He called Blackstone the largest investor in AI data centers.
โThis strategic decision that we made to go long AI infrastructure is going to be the single most important thing for the performance of our clients and ultimately, the growth of our business,โ said Gray.
Schwarzman noted that AI data centers require capital well beyond what public markets can supply โ positioning Blackstone as a key player in that build-out.
BCRED recorded its first monthly loss in over three years back in February, a data point that has kept private credit under scrutiny heading into this earnings season.
According to GuruFocus, BX carries a GF Value of $202.25 against its current price near $123, implying the stock is trading at roughly a 39% discount to estimated intrinsic value.
The stockโs P/E ratio sits at 31.8x, below its five-year median of 41.39x.
Insider activity over the past three months showed a modest buy of approximately $68,500, with no recorded insider sales.
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