BlackRock edges lower after 2022 mayhem slices $1.4 trillion off its AUM

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) stock edged down in premarket trade after a relatively strong fourth quarter took the edge off a disappointing year for the asset management giant.

BlackRock said it recorded net inflows of $114 billion in the fourth quarter, equivalent to around 50% of what it had posted in the first three quarters combined. The figures suggest investors began to tentatively re-enter markets at the end of the year that they had exited as central banks around the world raised interest rates sharply to tame inflation.

“We ended the year with strong momentum,” BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said in a release, noting that the fourth-quarter inflows represented 3% annualized organic growth in its fee base, which he said reflected “continued strength in ETFs and significant outsourcing mandates.”

Even so, the group saw $1.4T wiped off its assets under management in the course of 2022, as both bond and stock markets fell in sync, something that hasn’t happened since the 2008 financial crisis. Fink said last year’s market moves were “unlike anything we’ve seen in decades.”

The group’s revenue, which is tied closely to developments in AUM, fell 15% from a year earlier to $4.34B, while net income fell 23% to $1.24B.

Over the year as a whole, the declines were gentler, with revenue down 4% and diluted earnings per share down 11% at $33.97.

Earlier in the week, various reports had said BlackRock will cut around 500 jobs, or some 2.5% of its workforce, in an effort to shore up profitability after its fee base shrunk over the year.

By 08:40 ET (13:40 GMT), BlackRock stock was down 2.5% in premarket trading. While its own results were broadly in line with expectations, it came under pressure along with other financials after disappointing updates from some of the U.S.'s largest banks.