BlackRock bets on diversified portfolio, but warns fees may suffer By Reuters

By Sohini Podder and Carolina Mandl

(Reuters) – BlackRock’s executives told analysts on Wednesday that the firm’s diversified business model should help it weather a challenging environment for asset managers this year, but said fee income could suffer.

BlackRock Inc (NYSE:) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit as the world’s largest asset manager benefited from investors pouring money into its various index-traded and active funds.

Adjusted profit rose to $1.46 billion, or $9.52 per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $1.2 billion, or $8.04 per share, a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $8.75 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

“The successful multi-year investments have enabled us to deepen our solutions-oriented relationships with clients and have strengthened and diversified our organic revenue growth profile,” Chief Financial Officer Gary Shedlin said.

Still, BlackRock predicted recent market volatility could result in lower performance fees from liquid alternatives and long-only products during the remainder of the year, according to Shedlin.

Despite the result beat, BlackRock’s shares were down marginally at $713.8 in the afternoon trading following the results. They fell nearly 17% in the first quarter.

“The risk for this year is that visibility is low, and there’s a lot of uncertainty and that’s a negative for the stock,” said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA, adding over the longer term, there still remains several positive growth catalysts at the firm.

The asset manager attracted total net flows of $86 billion in the first quarter, down from $172 billion a year earlier, primarily due to seasonal cash management outflows of $27 billion.

The New York-based firm ended the past quarter with $9.57 trillion in assets under management, up from $9.01 trillion a year earlier.

Total revenue rose about 7% to $4.69 billion, helped by higher investment advisory and administration fees. That compared with estimates of $4.73 billion.