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WELCOME TO BETA FINCH, YOUR AI-POWERED EARNINGS BREAKDOWN

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, joined as always by Jordan. Today we're digging into BlackRock's third quarter 2026 results, and this is a loaded one. Before we get into it — this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Okay, with that out of the way — Alex, this was a genuinely eye-popping quarter for BlackRock. Where do you want to start?

ALEX: Let's start with the headline numbers because they're hard to ignore. Revenue of $7.8 billion, up 19% year over year. Operating income up 27% to $3.3 billion. And EPS of $15.93, up 38% from a year ago.

JORDAN: Thirty-eight percent EPS growth for a company this size is wild. And it's not just one lever — operating margin hit 47.8%, up 320 basis points year over year. That's margin expansion at scale, which is genuinely hard to do once you're already this big.

ALEX: Right, and the flow story backs it up. $205 billion of net inflows in the quarter, and organic base fee growth of 11% — that's nine straight quarters at or above their 5% long-term target.

JORDAN: Nine consecutive quarters. CFO Martin Small made a point of saying this isn't one product or one region carrying the firm — it's broad-based across ETFs, private markets, systematic equity, SMAs, even digital assets. iShares alone pulled in $135 billion, with index bond ETFs leading at $61 billion.

ALEX: And this is the first full comparable quarter since the HPS acquisition closed, plus a full year of GIP and Preqin integration. Larry Fink called this "the clearest view yet of the earnings power of our integrated platform." AUM is now $15.5 trillion, up over $2 trillion in a year.

JORDAN: Let's talk strategy, because Fink's commentary here was honestly some of the more striking stuff I've heard on an earnings call. He said that for the first time in his 50-year career, he's seeing genuine shortages of capital — governments running record deficits while private capital demand is exploding.

ALEX: And he tied that directly to AI infrastructure. BlackRock partnered with Meta on financing a $14 billion data center in Texas, combining GIP's infrastructure expertise with HPS's private credit capabilities. Their AI Infrastructure Partnership also closed its first deal — the Aligned Data Centers transaction, about $40 billion in enterprise value.

JORDAN: The part that really stuck with me was Fink's mortgage-backed securities analogy. He's essentially arguing that compute capacity — GPUs, chips, data centers — is going to follow the same path mortgages did in the 1980s: illiquid and hard to price until standardized data and performance history made them tradable. He thinks BlackRock, through Aladdin's analytics, can be at the center of building that market for compute.

ALEX: It's a big bet, but it fits their whole thesis — combining public markets, private markets, and technology into one integrated offering. And the numbers back up the private markets push too. $68 billion raised in private credit over the trailing twelve months, $25 billion of that in their first full year owning HPS.

JORDAN: Now, the Q&A had some great color. On margins, Martin Small noted that excluding performance fees entirely, the "recurring fee margin" was still 48.6%, up 230 basis points — so this isn't just a performance-fee sugar high. He talked about pushing margins toward the 50%-plus range that top private markets firms post, partly because GIP and HPS already operate above that level.

ALEX: And when Goldman's Alex Blostein pushed Fink on where BlackRock fits in the AI financing stack — compute, data centers, capital structure

This episode includes AI-generated content.]]>BLK-Q3-2026-enThu, 15 Oct 2026 04:48:00 +0000trueBeta FinchMore earnings analysis: https://betafinch.com Groups: BANKS (https://betafinch.com/groups/BANKS) ────────── WELCOME TO BETA FINCH, YOUR AI-POWERED EARNINGS BREAKDOWN ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, joined as...https://betafinch.com
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WELCOME TO BETA FINCH, YOUR AI-POWERED EARNINGS BREAKDOWN

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, joined as always by Jordan. Today we're digging into BlackRock's third quarter 2026 results, and this is a loaded one. Before we get into it — this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Okay, with that out of the way — Alex, this was a genuinely eye-popping quarter for BlackRock. Where do you want to start?

ALEX: Let's start with the headline numbers because they're hard to ignore. Revenue of $7.8 billion, up 19% year over year. Operating income up 27% to $3.3 billion. And EPS of $15.93, up 38% from a year ago.

JORDAN: Thirty-eight percent EPS growth for a company this size is wild. And it's not just one lever — operating margin hit 47.8%, up 320 basis points year over year. That's margin expansion at scale, which is genuinely hard to do once you're already this big.

ALEX: Right, and the flow story backs it up. $205 billion of net inflows in the quarter, and organic base fee growth of 11% — that's nine straight quarters at or above their 5% long-term target.

JORDAN: Nine consecutive quarters. CFO Martin Small made a point of saying this isn't one product or one region carrying the firm — it's broad-based across ETFs, private markets, systematic equity, SMAs, even digital assets. iShares alone pulled in $135 billion, with index bond ETFs leading at $61 billion.

ALEX: And this is the first full comparable quarter since the HPS acquisition closed, plus a full year of GIP and Preqin integration. Larry Fink called this "the clearest view yet of the earnings power of our integrated platform." AUM is now $15.5 trillion, up over $2 trillion in a year.

JORDAN: Let's talk strategy, because Fink's commentary here was honestly some of the more striking stuff I've heard on an earnings call. He said that for the first time in his 50-year career, he's seeing genuine shortages of capital — governments running record deficits while private capital demand is exploding.

ALEX: And he tied that directly to AI infrastructure. BlackRock partnered with Meta on financing a $14 billion data center in Texas, combining GIP's infrastructure expertise with HPS's private credit capabilities. Their AI Infrastructure Partnership also closed its first deal — the Aligned Data Centers transaction, about $40 billion in enterprise value.

JORDAN: The part that really stuck with me was Fink's mortgage-backed securities analogy. He's essentially arguing that compute capacity — GPUs, chips, data centers — is going to follow the same path mortgages did in the 1980s: illiquid and hard to price until standardized data and performance history made them tradable. He thinks BlackRock, through Aladdin's analytics, can be at the center of building that market for compute.

ALEX: It's a big bet, but it fits their whole thesis — combining public markets, private markets, and technology into one integrated offering. And the numbers back up the private markets push too. $68 billion raised in private credit over the trailing twelve months, $25 billion of that in their first full year owning HPS.

JORDAN: Now, the Q&A had some great color. On margins, Martin Small noted that excluding performance fees entirely, the "recurring fee margin" was still 48.6%, up 230 basis points — so this isn't just a performance-fee sugar high. He talked about pushing margins toward the...]]>410falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/blackrock-q2-2026-earnings-analysis--72991683https://betafinch.com
Groups: BANKS (https://betafinch.com/groups/BANKS)
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ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. Today we're digging into BlackRock's second quarter 2026 numbers — and Jordan, this was a genuinely loud quarter.

JORDAN: Loud is the right word. Record revenue, record operating income, record EPS, all in the same three months.

ALEX: Before we get into it, a quick note. This podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Good, let's get into it. Revenue came in at $7.1 billion, up 31% year-over-year. Operating income jumped 39% to $2.9 billion, and EPS hit $13.91.

ALEX: And the margin story is what jumped out to me. 45.9% operating margin, up 260 basis points from a year ago — that's their best level in almost five years.

JORDAN: Right, and CFO Martin Small was pretty clear that 45.9% isn't a ceiling. He pointed out BlackRock ran near 47% margins back in 2021, before they even had the scale in private markets or systematic equities they have now. So there's an argument the runway keeps going.

ALEX: Let's talk flows, because $192 billion of net inflows in a single quarter is enormous. That's 8% organic base fee growth for the quarter, and over the trailing twelve months they've pulled in $868 billion with 10% organic base fee growth.

JORDAN: iShares ETFs led the way — $178 billion of inflows, with core equity ETFs at $85 billion and index bond ETFs setting a new record at $61 billion. Active ETFs added another $20 billion, and Larry Fink noted BlackRock has gone from the seventh-largest active ETF manager to third-largest in just three years.

ALEX: The other big storyline is the HPS and GIP integration — the private markets acquisitions that closed about a year ago. Fink said the combination is already "delivering above our plans."

JORDAN: The numbers back that up. HPS alone contributed about $230 million in base fees and $115 million in performance fees this quarter. And on the insurance side, Fink talked about converting general account assets — they've got roughly $800 billion of insurance assets on the platform — into higher-yielding private markets allocations. Even a 5-10% conversion rate, he said, would be a meaningful lift to average fees.

ALEX: There was also that data center deal — Aligned Data Centers — described as the largest data center infrastructure transaction ever announced, bringing together their AIP, GIP, and MGX platforms.

JORDAN: That ties into a theme across the whole call: hyperscalers needing balance-sheet partners to build out AI infrastructure, and BlackRock positioning itself as one of the few firms that can show up with both equity and debt capital at scale.

ALEX: Let's hit tokenization for a second, because Martin Small got pretty specific here. They've filed two SEC registration statements for tokenized money market funds — one a tokenized share class on Ethereum, the other a more digitally native version with features like daily dividend reinvestment.

JORDAN: And the framing was interesting — he called tokenized assets "the spear tip into an entirely new distribution channel," pointing to the roughly 5 billion digital wallets globally as a pool of potential new iShares investors. They're also already managing $60 billion in stablecoin reserves for Circle, about a quarter of that market.

ALEX: On the capital return side, they bumped up guidance — now planning at least $550 million in quarterly share buybacks, higher than what they guided back in January. Combined with the dividend, they're expecting to return over $5.7 billion to shareholders this year, a 16% increase over 2025.

JORDAN: One thing worth flagging for listeners: EPS growth of 15% was actually a bit lower than the 39% operating income growth

This episode includes AI-generated content.]]>BLK-Q2-2026-enWed, 15 Jul 2026 14:11:51 +0000trueBeta FinchMore earnings analysis: https://betafinch.com Groups: BANKS (https://betafinch.com/groups/BANKS) ────────── ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. Today we're digging into BlackRock's second quarter 2026 numbers — and Jordan,...https://betafinch.com
Groups: BANKS (https://betafinch.com/groups/BANKS)
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ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. Today we're digging into BlackRock's second quarter 2026 numbers — and Jordan, this was a genuinely loud quarter.

JORDAN: Loud is the right word. Record revenue, record operating income, record EPS, all in the same three months.

ALEX: Before we get into it, a quick note. This podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Good, let's get into it. Revenue came in at $7.1 billion, up 31% year-over-year. Operating income jumped 39% to $2.9 billion, and EPS hit $13.91.

ALEX: And the margin story is what jumped out to me. 45.9% operating margin, up 260 basis points from a year ago — that's their best level in almost five years.

JORDAN: Right, and CFO Martin Small was pretty clear that 45.9% isn't a ceiling. He pointed out BlackRock ran near 47% margins back in 2021, before they even had the scale in private markets or systematic equities they have now. So there's an argument the runway keeps going.

ALEX: Let's talk flows, because $192 billion of net inflows in a single quarter is enormous. That's 8% organic base fee growth for the quarter, and over the trailing twelve months they've pulled in $868 billion with 10% organic base fee growth.

JORDAN: iShares ETFs led the way — $178 billion of inflows, with core equity ETFs at $85 billion and index bond ETFs setting a new record at $61 billion. Active ETFs added another $20 billion, and Larry Fink noted BlackRock has gone from the seventh-largest active ETF manager to third-largest in just three years.

ALEX: The other big storyline is the HPS and GIP integration — the private markets acquisitions that closed about a year ago. Fink said the combination is already "delivering above our plans."

JORDAN: The numbers back that up. HPS alone contributed about $230 million in base fees and $115 million in performance fees this quarter. And on the insurance side, Fink talked about converting general account assets — they've got roughly $800 billion of insurance assets on the platform — into higher-yielding private markets allocations. Even a 5-10% conversion rate, he said, would be a meaningful lift to average fees.

ALEX: There was also that data center deal — Aligned Data Centers — described as the largest data center infrastructure transaction ever announced, bringing together their AIP, GIP, and MGX platforms.

JORDAN: That ties into a theme across the whole call: hyperscalers needing balance-sheet partners to build out AI infrastructure, and BlackRock positioning itself as one of the few firms that can show up with both equity and debt capital at scale.

ALEX: Let's hit tokenization for a second, because Martin Small got pretty specific here. They've filed two SEC registration statements for tokenized money market funds — one a tokenized share class on Ethereum, the other a more digitally native version with features like daily dividend reinvestment.

JORDAN: And the framing was interesting — he called tokenized assets "the spear tip into an entirely new distribution channel," pointing to the roughly 5 billion digital wallets globally as a pool of potential new iShares investors. They're also already managing $60 billion in stablecoin reserves for Circle, about a quarter of that market.

ALEX: On the capital return side, they bumped up guidance — now planning at least $550 million in quarterly share buybacks, higher than what they...]]>413falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/blackrock-q1-2026-earnings-analysis--71332818
**ALEX**: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we dive deep into quarterly results so you don't have to. I'm Alex.

**JORDAN**: And I'm Jordan. Today we're breaking down BlackRock's absolutely stellar Q1 2026 results that just dropped this morning.

**ALEX**: Before we jump in, I need to mention that this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

**JORDAN**: Now, Alex, when you say "stellar," you're not kidding. BlackRock just delivered what CEO Larry Fink called "one of the strongest starts to a year in BlackRock's history." Let's start with the numbers that really matter.

**ALEX**: The headline numbers are impressive across the board. Revenue hit $6.7 billion, up 27% year-over-year. Operating income jumped 31% to $2.7 billion, and earnings per share came in at $12.53, up 11% from last year. But Jordan, what really caught my eye was that margin expansion.

**JORDAN**: Exactly! They expanded margins by over 130 basis points to 44.5%. And get this - they achieved 8% organic base fee growth in the quarter, which marks their seventh consecutive quarter at or above 5%. That's the kind of consistent execution that separates the leaders from the pack.

**ALEX**: The growth engine here seems to be what they're calling "whole portfolio" solutions. Can you explain what that means?

**JORDAN**: It's fascinating, actually. Essentially, clients are moving away from diversifying across multiple asset managers and instead consolidating with fewer strategic partners - sometimes just one. BlackRock is positioned perfectly for this because they can offer everything: public markets, private markets, and technology all on one integrated platform.

**ALEX**: And the numbers back that up. They saw $130 billion in net inflows during the quarter. That's massive! The ETF business alone brought in a record $132 billion in first-quarter flows, with particularly strong demand for international exposures.

**JORDAN**: The international angle is really interesting. When clients rotated toward international exposures this quarter, BlackRock benefited because iShares basically indexes every slice of global markets - from broad benchmarks to emerging markets to what they call "precision single-country allocations." These premium exposures drove double-digit organic base fee growth for ETFs.

**ALEX**: Let's talk about the elephant in the room - private credit. There's been a lot of noise in the market about stress in this sector. How is BlackRock positioned?

**JORDAN**: Larry Fink was pretty direct about this on the call. He said the headlines don't reflect what they're seeing from clients. While there's been some moderation in wealth vehicles like BDCs, institutional demand is actually accelerating. Here's a key stat: about 85% of their Private Financing Solutions investor base is institutional-focused, which gives them more durable capital across market cycles.

**ALEX**: And they're seeing wider spreads as a result of the market uncertainty, right?

**JORDAN**: Exactly. New direct lending is being quoted 25 to 50 basis points wider than Q4, with some opportunities over 100 basis points wider. As Fink put it, "periods of market dislocation are when private credit investment opportunities are most compelling."

**ALEX**: Now, there was one announcement that really grabbed my attention - the Department of Labor's proposed rule about private assets in 401(k) plans. This could be huge for BlackRock.

**JORDAN**: This is potentially transformative. BlackRock has a $600 billion LifePath target date franchise, and they're perfectly positioned if private assets enter the defined contribution market. Martin Small mentioned they've seen more advancement on private markets in 4

This episode includes AI-generated content.]]>BLK-Q1-2026-enWed, 15 Apr 2026 02:04:55 +0000trueBeta Finch# Beta Finch Podcast Script: BlackRock Q1 2026 Earnings **ALEX**: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we dive deep into quarterly results so you don't have to. I'm Alex. **JORDAN**: And I'm Jordan. Today we're breaking...
**ALEX**: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we dive deep into quarterly results so you don't have to. I'm Alex.

**JORDAN**: And I'm Jordan. Today we're breaking down BlackRock's absolutely stellar Q1 2026 results that just dropped this morning.

**ALEX**: Before we jump in, I need to mention that this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

**JORDAN**: Now, Alex, when you say "stellar," you're not kidding. BlackRock just delivered what CEO Larry Fink called "one of the strongest starts to a year in BlackRock's history." Let's start with the numbers that really matter.

**ALEX**: The headline numbers are impressive across the board. Revenue hit $6.7 billion, up 27% year-over-year. Operating income jumped 31% to $2.7 billion, and earnings per share came in at $12.53, up 11% from last year. But Jordan, what really caught my eye was that margin expansion.

**JORDAN**: Exactly! They expanded margins by over 130 basis points to 44.5%. And get this - they achieved 8% organic base fee growth in the quarter, which marks their seventh consecutive quarter at or above 5%. That's the kind of consistent execution that separates the leaders from the pack.

**ALEX**: The growth engine here seems to be what they're calling "whole portfolio" solutions. Can you explain what that means?

**JORDAN**: It's fascinating, actually. Essentially, clients are moving away from diversifying across multiple asset managers and instead consolidating with fewer strategic partners - sometimes just one. BlackRock is positioned perfectly for this because they can offer everything: public markets, private markets, and technology all on one integrated platform.

**ALEX**: And the numbers back that up. They saw $130 billion in net inflows during the quarter. That's massive! The ETF business alone brought in a record $132 billion in first-quarter flows, with particularly strong demand for international exposures.

**JORDAN**: The international angle is really interesting. When clients rotated toward international exposures this quarter, BlackRock benefited because iShares basically indexes every slice of global markets - from broad benchmarks to emerging markets to what they call "precision single-country allocations." These premium exposures drove double-digit organic base fee growth for ETFs.

**ALEX**: Let's talk about the elephant in the room - private credit. There's been a lot of noise in the market about stress in this sector. How is BlackRock positioned?

**JORDAN**: Larry Fink was pretty direct about this on the call. He said the headlines don't reflect what they're seeing from clients. While there's been some moderation in wealth vehicles like BDCs, institutional demand is actually accelerating. Here's a key stat: about 85% of their Private Financing Solutions investor base is institutional-focused, which gives them more durable capital across market cycles.

**ALEX**: And they're seeing wider spreads as a result of the market uncertainty, right?

**JORDAN**: Exactly. New direct lending is being quoted 25 to 50 basis points wider than Q4, with some opportunities over 100 basis points wider. As Fink put it, "periods of market dislocation are when private credit investment opportunities are most compelling."

**ALEX**: Now, there was one announcement that really grabbed my attention - the Department of Labor's proposed rule about private assets in 401(k) plans. This could be huge for BlackRock.

**JORDAN**: This is potentially transformative. BlackRock has a $600 billion LifePath target date franchise,...]]>537falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/coming-soon-beta-finch-en--70091985
This episode includes AI-generated content.]]>BLK-coming-soon-enTue, 17 Feb 2026 04:39:26 +0000trueBeta FinchStay tuned for AI-powered earnings analysis from Beta Finch.
This episode includes AI-generated content.]]>121falsefull