MutualFundWire.com: Three Things to Know from BlackRock's Earnings
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Three Things to Know from BlackRock's Earnings


It was another good earnings period for BlackRock, but chair and chief executive Larry Fink doesn't plan on slowing down.

If you peruse the company's earnings info as well as the SeekingAlpha transcript of the latest earnings call, you'll get a sense of some of the paths he intends to follow to build up on this first quarter's solid figures.

But firs, the basics.
As previously reported, BlackRock reported uarter 2013 diluted earnings per share of $3.62, up 15 percent from a year ago, while operating income for the quarter reached $909 million, up 12 percent. The company had an operating margin of 37.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the company's revenue hit $2.4 billion, up 9 percent, reflecting growth in investment advisory, administration fees and securities lending revenue as well as growth in performance fees. The firm also saw increased advisory revenue as well as revenue from BlackRock Solutions.

Notably, the fund giant hit a record $3.936 trillion in AUM, up 7 percent from a year ago.

There were three big themes, out of many, worth noting from Fink's chat with analysts.

They include: 1. The Agreement With Fidelity Is a Big Deal
2. Alternatives Also Remain a Big Deal
3. What Rotation? (Or We Still Have Faith in Bonds, Thank You Very Much)
Now to drill down into these themes. 1. The Agreement With Fidelity Is a Big Deal
Last month, Blackrock announced an expanded its alliance with Fidelity in which 65 iShares ETFs will be available commission free on Fido's platform. This is what Fink had to say about the move at various points during the analyst call:
Last month, we announced the long-term exclusive alliance with Fidelity that enables Fidelity's 10 million customers to access ETFs, with a smaller marketing -- to access ETFs provided by iShares. We started this relationship 3 years ago with a smaller marketing arrangement. And this is the next step in a longer-term relationship that aims to meet the needs of self-directed investors on a major scale. Fidelity was already an important relationship for BlackRock, and I'm very excited about working with them in the years to come.

Well, that is not a public piece of information that I'm -- I can't be responsible for discussing that, so just bear with me on that. But our enthusiasm is quite great with the opportunity we have -- the opportunities we have with Fidelity. The first 3 years were a success and what our new announcement is to build from that success now by adding up to 65 ETFs, iShare ETFs onto the platform have given us much greater opportunity to build greater penetration with their clients and a deeper conversation with their client-serving team. I would also add though, Craig, this also enriches our relationship in a totality basis. Even as from their distribution side, it just gives us a better opportunity to sell our mutual funds and other products there. So we look at this as a comprehensive relationship. The working relationship with our teams is very strong. But importantly, I look at what we are doing with Fidelity to complement what we're doing on our core strategy ETFs. This is what we deemed as the most efficient way for us to target a buy-and-hold RIA channel. This is an area where we said over the last few quarters, we under-penetrated. When we announced our core strategy ETFs, we said this is the channel we're going to go after. But by enlarging our partnership and our relationship with Fidelity, it really enhances our ability to interact with the independent RIA channel.

Well, a, I think Fidelity is a tremendous firm. I think their fiduciary as strong as any firm that I know of. I think they believe in active management, as you suggested, and I think they understand that their clients are not only looking for active products, they're looking for passive products. And I believe that they have come to terms that if they are going to be as strong a fiduciary and looking out for their clients' interests that being in partnership with BlackRock iShares allows them to penetrate and continue to have that dialogue on the beta side, but also continue to be a fiduciary and drive also flows for their active products. So I think it's very consistent with a long-standing position of Fidelity of having fiduciary responsibility, first and foremost. And I would say all my conversations with the leadership of Fidelity has always been, they want to be known as a key long-term fiduciary for their clients. And I think this achieves that objective, and it also allows them to continue to build and drive their active flows.

Read more on the company's earnings info as well as the SeekingAlpha.


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