SEI Investments (SEIC) Beats On Q3 Earnings, Revenues Grow

SEI Investments Co.’s (NASDAQ:SEIC) third-quarter 2019 earnings of 86 cents per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 83 cents. The figure reflects a rise of 7.5% from the prior-year quarter.

Results were primarily driven by growth in revenues and lower expenses. However, a decline in assets under management (AUM) was a headwind.

Net income was $132.2 million, up from $128.3 million recorded in the year-ago quarter.

Revenues Improve, Expenses & AUM Decline

Total revenues were $416.3 million, up 1.9% year over year. The rise reflected higher asset management, administration and distribution fees. Moreover, the reported figure marginally surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $416 million.

Total expenses were $295.6 million, down marginally year over year. The contraction was led by a fall in almost all components of expenses, except for compensation, benefits and other personnel expenses, data processing and computer-related expenses, depreciation costs, and amortization expenses.

Operating income increased 7.3% year over year to $120.6 million.

As of Sep 30, 2019, AUM was $334.7 billion, reflecting a decline of nearly 1.3% from the prior-year quarter. Client assets under administration (AUA) were $662 billion, up 15% year over year. Note that client AUA does not include $12.4 billion related to Funds of Funds assets that were reported on Sep 30, 2019.

Share Repurchase

In the reported quarter, SEI Investments bought back 1.4 million shares for $81.4 million.

Our Take

SEI Investments is well positioned for organic growth, given its innovative and diverse global investment products and services. However, despite a fall in expenses in the third quarter, overall costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term due to higher compensation costs. This will likely hurt bottom-line growth to some extent.

Currently, SEI Investments carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Asset Managers

BlackRock, Inc.’s (NYSE:BLK) third-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of $7.15 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.95. However, the figure was 4.9% lower than the year-ago quarter’s number.

Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) third-quarter 2019 distributable earnings of 58 cents surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 54 cents. However, the figure declined from 63 cents earned in the prior-year quarter.

Cohen & Steers’ (NYSE:CNS) third-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of 65 cents per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 63 cents. Also, the bottom line was 1.6% higher than the year-ago quarter figure.

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