Blackstone: Raising Fair Value on Improved Conditions for Investments, Realizations, and Fundraising

We've increased our fair value estimate for narrow-moat-rated Blackstone to $125 per share from $110 to account for revised near-term expectations for assets under management, revenue, and profitability since our last update. While activity levels for investments, realizations, and fundraising remained muted during much of the past year, the company picked up $148.5 billion in new assets through fundraising during 2023. While this was worse than 2021 ($270.5 billion) and 2022 ($226.0 billion), it was still the firm's third-best year for fundraising in the past decade.