BlackRock, Inc.

BlackRock's core business got stronger in the third quarter of 2026. Clients added $205 billion of net new money, organic base fee growth (fee growth from new client money, excluding market moves) ran at an annualized 11%, and the adjusted operating margin rose to 47.8% from 44.6% a year earlier. The exception is private markets, which the recent acquisitions were bought to build: base fees there were $668 million against $653 million a year earlier, in what management calls the first comparable quarter since the HPS deal closed.

GAAP diluted earnings per share of $10.57 sit about a third below the adjusted $15.93. The gap comes from $882 million of excluded after-tax items, most of it a $556 million noncash remeasurement of contingent consideration (payments owed to sellers of acquired businesses if targets are met), which will be paid in shares. Funding is not a constraint, as the financial resilience section shows.

• Revenue was $7,752M, up 19% from a year earlier. GAAP operating margin was flat at 30.0%, and adjusted EPS rose 38%.
• Total net inflows were $205B, including $135B into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and $27B of outflows from institutional index mandates. Assets under management (AUM) reached $15.5T.
• On July 1, 2026, a provision that could have forced cash settlement of the HPS units expired. As a result, $2.8B of those units moved into permanent equity and $2.6B of contingent consideration was reclassified from liabilities to equity.
• The expense for the change in the fair value of contingent consideration was $564M, against $93M a year earlier, and it moves with BlackRock's share price.
• Guidance: Q3 buybacks were $550M, and management expects at least $550M in Q4, consistent with July. It also guided to a Q4 tax rate of about 25% and a mid-single-digit full-year rise in general and administrative expense.

Its findings, each with the evidence, the strongest counterpoint and what would prove it wrong:

• Organic growth is broad and running about double the 5% long-term target
• Private markets fees have not grown in a year despite the HPS purchase
• Adjusted growth is flattered, and part of the acquisition price is still being paid in shares

Then its finances, the quality of its earnings, its management, the case for and against, and what to watch, its claims cited to the filings and checked against them.

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