What Management Said

Read the full Q1 2026 transcript ↗

AMG reported record results for the first quarter, with Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $317 million and Economic earnings per share of $8.23, representing year-over-year growth of 39% and 58% respectively. Given that we have strategically evolved towards alternative strategies over the last several years, a number of important secular trends are driving our organic growth story today. Together, infrastructure and secondary solutions have generated substantial organic growth from both institutional and individual investors over the past 12 months. In liquid alternatives, where our affiliates manage more than $261 billion in assets, we are benefiting most from growth in two trends.

Institutional demand for absolute return strategies and the growing focus on after-tax compounding in the wealth channel. They provide AMG's business with ballast relative to pro-cyclical strategies in private markets and differentiated equities, enhancing the stability of our earnings over time. For the same reasons, clients globally are increasingly attracted to these absolute return strategies, especially as the outlook for the macro environment has become more uncertain. As a result, we had a meaningful uptick in flows in the quarter, driven by institutional demand for absolute return strategies, with contributions from nearly all of our affiliates in liquid alternatives.

In addition, within liquid alternatives, we are benefiting from significant client demand for tax-aware long-short strategies. AMG has benefited from this underlying secular trend through ongoing organic growth, which has been significant over the past year. As I mentioned, these 4 growth areas, infrastructure, secondary solutions, absolute return strategies, and beta-sensitive long-short strategies, have driven organic growth in the quarter and over the past 12 months. Looking ahead, given the continued tailwinds in these areas and our affiliates' excellent long-term track records, AMG is well-positioned for further growth.

What went well
  • Record Q1 with Adjusted EBITDA of ~$317 million (up 39% YoY) and Economic EPS of $8.23 (up 58% YoY)
  • Record quarterly net client cash flows of more than $22 billion; $52 billion over the trailing 12 months (7% organic growth)
  • Record AUM of $882 billion despite market volatility, plus record fee-related EBITDA
  • Record $25 billion of net inflows in liquid alternatives, broad-based across AQR, Capula, Garda, Systematica, and Winton
  • Repurchased ~$186 million of shares in the quarter; $700 million+ over trailing 12 months, reducing shares outstanding by 10%
What went wrong
  • Equities saw net outflows of ~$9 billion amid ongoing industry and performance headwinds
  • Near-term growth in evergreen wealth products (e.g. P-SECC) expected to be muted due to traditional direct lending trends and market noise
  • Market noise and headline risk around AQR/tax-aware strategies weighed on sentiment, though management called it noise
  • Q2 Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $290-305 million sits below the record Q1 $317 million, with seasonably lower net performance fees
  • Operated against a volatile market backdrop with beta down during the quarter

Guidance Changes

MetricPeriodCurrent guidance
Adjusted EBITDAQ2 2026$290M-$305M
Economic EPSQ2 2026$7.60-$8.01 (~45% growth vs Q2 2025 at midpoint)
Net Performance FeesQ2 2026up to $10M (seasonally lower)
Adjusted weighted avg share countQ2 202626.7 million
Share repurchasesFull-year 2026~$500M, subject to market conditions
Economic EPS growthFY202630%+ growth expected

Performance Breakdown

MetricYoYNote
Adjusted EBITDA +39% Positive organic growth, investment performance, and margin expansion at largest affiliates
Economic EPS +58% EBITDA growth plus higher net performance fees and the benefit of share repurchases
Fee-Related Earnings +29% Positive organic growth, positive investment performance, and margin expansion at some largest affiliates
Net Performance Fee earnings +$29M to $49M Driven by Capula, Winton, AQR, and ValueAct
Net client cash flows (TTM) $52B / 7% organic growth Rising demand for liquid alternatives and strength in private markets fundraising

Earnings Call Themes & Trends

TopicPrevious mentionCurrent periodTrend
Business mix shift toward alternativesTraditional long-only heavier mix40 affiliates; $148B private markets and $261B+ liquid alternatives driving growth—
Four organic growth driversConcentration concern on single affiliatesBalanced across infrastructure, secondary solutions, absolute return, and tax-aware strategies; none a majority—
AQR / tax-aware strategies~20% of EBITDA cited previously (AQR); market focus on Schwab/Fidelity headlinesLong-short wealth is 8% of AUM and <8% of EBITDA; management sees no change to positive outlook—
Capital allocation$5B generated and reallocated over past 5 years~$1B+ annual after-tax cash flow; expects to generate significantly more over next 5 years—
New investment activityActive 2025 fundraising yearClosed BBH Credit Partners (Jan), announced HighBrook and follow-on Garda (Feb); improving competitive/pricing environment—
Wealth / evergreen productsPantheon retail success in secondaries/co-investP-BUILD, P-SECC, P-PEXX plus new AMG BBH Fund; <1% of AUM, education-led, near-term muted—

Q&A Summary

Given market focus on AQR (Schwab headlines, short interest), can you expand on the four growth verticals and the strong April start?
Flows were broad-based across all four drivers (infrastructure, secondary solutions, absolute return, tax-aware), with $29B of alternative flows in the quarter (a record) and $90B over the trailing year, none a majority. AQR remains innovative with demand across strategies. AMG had record AUM, cash flow, and earnings despite Q1 volatility, and assets hit a new all-time high in April as beta recovered.
How is appetite for wealth/retail products (like Pantheon secondaries) today given credit turbulence, and what's the product roadmap for the next 12-18 months?
Management remains constructive on the secular evergreen trend, with the most compelling opportunities in credit secondaries and asset-backed solutions. Main products are P-BUILD (infrastructure), P-SECC (private credit secondaries), and P-PEXX (private equity), collectively <1% of AUM, plus a newly registered AMG BBH Fund. Education is key; near-term growth may be muted but the opportunistic products could benefit from dislocations.
Are current dislocations in private credit and equity markets creating more opportunity to deploy capital into new investments?
The last 18 months were among AMG's most active investment periods, largely in alternatives and specialty private markets, contributing to this year's growth. Public-market valuations for alternatives are down, which should eventually flow into the M&A market and improve competition and pricing for AMG, which remains open for business.
Can you frame the tax-aware contribution to EBITDA (previously AQR was ~20% of EBITDA) and the outlook for adding the product to more wirehouse/brokerage/private-bank platforms?
Tax-loss harvesting dates to ~1993 and is well understood; AQR is one participant among many big firms. Long-short wealth is <8% of AUM and contributed <8% of EBITDA in Q1 last year, a minority of flows. The bigger story is record cash flow (>$1B annualized) that AMG reinvests and returns; shares trade at <10x after-tax earnings and <8x EBITDA, supporting elevated buybacks.
Can you give more detail on the composition and consistency of private markets flows?
Private market flows have averaged ~18% annualized growth over the past eight quarters, driven by durable demand in infrastructure/real assets, secondaries, and specialized allocations. Pantheon is a consistent driver via a scaled multi-product secondaries platform; with 11 private market affiliates, AMG is less reliant on any single fundraising calendar, producing a more durable overall profile.
What drove the strong liquid alternatives flows and how diversified were they?
Liquid alternatives generated $25B of inflows, broad-based across beta-sensitive and absolute return strategies and across institutional, wealth, and retail channels. Wealth contributed $15B into long-short tax-aware, institutions $6B into absolute return, and $4B into retail products. Flows favored the largest managers, positioning affiliates like AQR, Garda, Capula, and Verition well.
How are the differentiated long-only and equity flow trends evolving?
Equities saw ~$9B of net outflows in line with 12-month averages, but combined with $3B of multi-asset and fixed income inflows, long-only net flows are improving. Pockets of strength include Artemis (strong performance driving positive flows) and BBH Credit Partners. Management expects long-only outflows to continue getting better over the next 12 months.

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Q1 2026 call
Reported 2026-05-01 · figures from the Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. Q1 2026 earnings call.

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