This is it. This Wednesday, US financial stocks kicked off the earnings season. An opportunity for us to take a closer look at the world's largest asset manager. With over $11.5 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2024, BlackRock is the undisputed industry leader. In recent years, it has taken full advantage of the boom in passive management with its iShares ETF range.

And momentum still looks good. The 2024 results are excellent. And above expectations, as always in the United States. Annual sales topped the $20 billion mark for the first time. Fourth-quarter EPS came in at $11.93, against a Factset consensus of $11.26. New money also reached record levels, at $281 billion in Q4 and $641 billion for the year as a whole.

The power of the leader

BlackRock 's position as a leader in asset management gives it an advantage. The bigger you are, the lower your fixed costs, and the lower your management fees. And therefore continue to gain market share. Asset management is an industry like any other, where economies of scale count. BlackRock is also expanding into a lesser-known segment, private assets, which include private equity, private debt and infrastructure. A segment in which founder and CEO Larry Fink is a great believer. He believes that private assets are an important source of growth, and that the "portfolio of the future" should contain them. This is why BlackRock has made several major acquisitions in this field in recent months.

The purchase of GIP (Global Infrastructure Partners) for $12.5 billion, finalized last October. Then, HPS, a private debt specialist, for $12 billion. And to make things clearer in this complex universe, the acquisition of a data provider for private markets, the British Preqin, for $3.2 billion. The integration of HPS and Preqin is still in progress.

Good value for money?

Over the next few years, BlackRock should continue to grow at a steady pace. Operating income is expected to rise by 20% in 2025 and 16% in 2026. And with operating margin set to increase by 3 points by 2026.

BlackRock has also benefited from positive earnings revisions from analysts for just over a year. All this at a reasonable valuation. At 21 times, BlackRock 's forward PE is lower than that of the S&P500 (21.5). A very decent price for the leader in its industry.