Company Reports

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active equity investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Affiliated Managers Group falling short in most of these categories.

Affiliated Managers Group ended June 2026 with a record $942.4 billion in long-term assets under management, or AUM, and reported a 29.9% year-over-year increase in second-quarter revenue, with adjusted EBITDA margins increasing 480 basis points to 49.3%.

With the US equity markets up more than 15% in the second quarter and more than 10% year to date at the end of June 2026, most of the traditional asset managers have positive momentum coming into the second-quarter earnings season.

AMG ended March 2026 with $882.0 billion in long-term assets under management, or AUM—and improved flows into the company's private markets and liquid alternatives offerings, and diminished outflows from its equity operations, have allowed the firm to generate positive organic AUM growth again.

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active equity investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Affiliated Managers Group falling short in most of these categories.

Affiliated Managers Group ended December with $813.3 billion in long-term assets under management and reported a 6.2% year-over-year increase in fourth-quarter revenue, with adjusted EBITDA margin increasing 1,400 basis points to 67.9%.

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active equity investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Affiliated Managers Group falling short in most of these categories.

Improving alternative flows and stronger equity and credit markets continue to lift AMG's managed assets, with flows expected to remain strong in the near term.

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active equity investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Affiliated Managers Group falling short in most of these categories.

Affiliated Managers Group ended December with $813.3 billion in long-term assets under management and reported a 6.2% year-over-year increase in fourth-quarter revenue, with adjusted EBITDA margin increasing 1,400 basis points to 67.9%.

Improving alternative flows and better equity and credit markets have lifted AMG's level of managed assets, with improved flows expected to continue in the near term.

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Affiliated Managers Group falling short in most of these categories.

AMG ended September 2025 with $803.6 billion in long-term assets under management, or AUM, and reported a 2.2% year-over-year increase in third-quarter revenue, with adjusted EBITDA margins increasing 600 basis points to 47.5%.

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Affiliated Managers Group falling short in most of these categories.

AMG closed out June 2025 with $771 billion in long-term assets under management but still reported a 1.4% year-over-year decline in second-quarter revenue, with adjusted EBITDA margins increasing 100 basis points to 44.5%.

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Affiliated Managers Group falling short in most of these categories.

AMG ended March 2025 with $712 billion in long-term assets under management, or AUM. The firm, however, reported a 0.7% decline in revenue, with adjusted EBITDA margins declining 600 basis points year over year to 46.0%. owing primarily to lower performance fees.

There was little in no-moat rated Affiliated Managers Group's fourth-quarter results that would alter our long-term view of the firm. With management guiding first-quarter results below current expectations, we expect to leave our $195 per share fair value estimate in place and view the shares as being only slightly to modestly undervalued right now.

While the threat of tariffs on Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese imports has roiled the equity markets this week, it has not been the only news to impact the traditional asset managers in our US-based asset manager coverage, as Vanguard's decision to cut fees on around one quarter of its mutual funds, ETFs, and money market funds (which collectively held $9.2 trillion in assets under management, or AUM) at the end of 2024 has only added to their woes.

A confluence of several issues—poor relative active investment performance, the growth and acceptance of low-cost index-based products, and the expanding power of the retail-advised channel—has made it increasingly difficult for the US-based traditional asset managers to generate organic assets under management growth, leaving them more dependent on market gains to increase their assets under management. While we believe there will always be room for active management, the advantage when it comes to getting and maintaining placement on distribution platforms will probably go to asset managers that have greater scale, established brands, solid long-term performance, and reasonable fees—with Janus Henderson falling short in most of these categories.