BlackRock quarterly profit sails past estimates as markets rally

BlackRock Inc, the world's largest asset manager, trounced analysts' profit estimates for a fifth straight quarter on Tuesday as the recovery rally in global financial markets boosted asset values and pulled in more investor funds.

The company ended the third quarter with $7.81 trillion in assets under management, up from the $7.32 trillion in the second quarter and $6.96 trillion a year earlier.

Financial markets rallied in the third quarter, building on a dramatic rebound in the second from the pandemic-fueled low hit in March, as an accommodative stance from global central banks and improving growth prospects lifted risk appetite.

Still, investors remained cautious ahead of the US presidential election on Nov. 3 and data underlining the uneven economic recovery against the backdrop of a resurgence in coronavirus cases around the world.

The New York-based company's net income rose 27% to $1.42 billion, or $9.22 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $1.12 billion, or $7.15 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected earnings of $7.80 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

BlackRock's performance fees jumped more than four-fold from a year earlier.

Net inflows in the quarter totaled $129 billion, the company said, compared with $100 billion in the prior quarter. More than 50% of the company's long-term inflows were driven by clients in Europe and Asia.

The asset manager's fixed-income funds took in $70.36 billion in new money, while its cash-management business attracted $27.8 billion in net inflows in the third quarter.