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Valued at a market cap of $126.2 billion, Blackstone Inc. (BX) is an asset manager of alternative investments and a provider of financial advisory services. Based in New York, the company specializes in private equity, real estate, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity, and multi-asset class strategies.
This asset manager’s shares have outperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks. BX has soared 44.2% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has gained 22.6%. However, the stock is up 1.4% on a YTD basis, lagging behind SPX’s 3.1% rise during the same time frame.
Zooming in further, Blackstone has outperformed the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLF) 33.4% gain over the past 52 weeks. However, it has underperformed XLF’s 6.9% return on a YTD basis.
On Jan. 30, BX’s shares plunged 4.1% after its Q4 earnings release, despite delivering stronger-than-expected Q4 distributable earnings of $1.69 per share and revenues of $4.2 billion. Moreover, its bottom line advanced by a notable 52.3% from the year-ago quarter, while its top line grew 63.4% year-over-year. The company also saw significant inflows of $57.5 billion and an 8.5% annual increase in assets under management, reaching $1.13 trillion. Despite these positive results, investor concerns about the potential market impact of the new DeepSeek R1 AI model likely drove the stock's decline.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December 2025, analysts expect Blackstone’s EPS to grow 26.7% year over year to $5.88. The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It surpassed or met the Wall Street estimates in three of the last four quarters while missing on another occasion.
Among the 22 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy,” which is based on six “Strong Buy,” one “Moderate Buy,” 14 “Hold,” and one “Strong Sell” rating.
On Jan. 31, Keefe Bruyette maintained a “Market Perform” rating on Blackstone and raised its price target to $177, which indicates a slight 1.2% potential upside from the current levels.
The mean price target of $184.75 represents a 5.7% upside from BX’s current price levels, while the Street-high price target of $233 suggests an upside potential of 33.2%.
