BlackRock (BLK) 2021 Q1 Earnings Preview

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK) was founded by Laurence Fink and his colleagues in 1988 as an asset management firm. The company gained popularity and started managing billions of assets within few years following its inception. It had $17 billion worth of assets under management in 1992 and about $53 billion in 1994. BlackRock went public in October 1999 by pricing its shares at $14 apiece. Today, it is the world’s biggest asset manager, offering a range of investment products to millions of clients.

The New York-based company recently announced better-than-expected financial results for the first quarter. BlackRock reported earnings of $1.2 billion, or $7.77 per share for the three months ended March 31, up from $1.03 billion, or $6.60 per share in the comparable quarter of 2020. Analysts on average were looking for earnings of $7.64 per share. The results were mainly driven by a rebound in global financial markets that sent BlackRock’s assets under management to a new high of $9.01 trillion.

Revenue for the quarter jumped 18.6 percent on a year-over-year basis to $4.4 billion, beating the consensus forecast of $4.35 billion. Revenue from investment advisory and administration fees came in at $3.47 billion, significantly higher than $2.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Commenting on the results, CEO Laurence Fink said in a statement, “BlackRock’s deep sense of responsibility to help more and more people experience financial well-being has guided significant investments in our business over time, positioning us to deliver strong results for all of our stakeholders today. By evolving to stay ahead of clients’ needs, we’ve built a platform equipped to provide whole portfolio solutions that include index, active, cash and alternative strategies, sustainable investing capabilities, industry-leading technology and a voice that helps guide our clients as they adapt to a changing world.”