CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:
We lift our 12-month target price by $45 to $895, or 19.8x our ’25 EPS estimate of $45.10 (upped by $1.05) and 20.8x our ’24 EPS estimate of $43.08 (raised by $2.05), in line with BLK’s three-year average forward multiple of 20x. Q4 EPS of $9.66 versus $8.93 topped our $9.40 EPS estimate and the $8.84 consensus view on a 7% revenue rise (above our 3%-5% forecast), and ’23 EPS of $37.77 (versus $35.36) beat our $37.52 EPS estimate and the $37.09 consensus view. December 31, 2023 AUM of $10T rose 16% Y/Y, aided by $289B of net inflows (3% organic growth). We applaud BLK’s accretive acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for $12.5B in cash ($3B) and stock (12M shares) in a deal that creates a $150B AUM infrastructure investment platform. We expect other deals, and see BLK expanding further into the alternatives space. We view the shares, currently trading at 17.6x our ’25 EPS estimate and yielding 2.6%, as undervalued versus historical averages, with organic AUM growth and acquisitions as catalysts.