Company Reports

Apollo Global Management has built a solid position in the alternative-asset management industry, using its reputation, broad product portfolio, investment performance record, and a cadre of dedicated professionals to maintain its reputation as one of the go-to firms for institutional and high-net-worth investors looking for exposure to alternative assets. Unlike more traditional asset managers, which have had to rely on investor inaction to keep annual redemption rates low, the products offered by alternative asset managers can have lockup periods attached to them, which prevent investors from redeeming part or all of their investment for a prolonged period.

Apollo Global Management exited June 2026 with $858.0 billion in fee-earning assets, up 2.6% sequentially and 34.4% year over year. Fee-related earnings increased 25.2% year over year to $785 million, with adjusted net income increasing 11.5% to $1.3 billion.

The alternative asset managers were down 25% on average on a total return basis during the first half of 2026 as more volatile markets and uncertainties tied to US fiscal, tariff, and monetary policies, and concerns over the private credit market weighed on the group.

Apollo Global Management has built a solid position in the alternative-asset management industry, using its reputation, broad product portfolio, investment performance record, and a cadre of dedicated professionals to maintain its reputation as one of the go-to firms for institutional and high-net-worth investors looking for exposure to alternative assets. Unlike more traditional asset managers, which have had to rely on investor inaction to keep annual redemption rates low, the products offered by alternative asset managers can have lockup periods attached to them, which prevent investors from redeeming part or all of their investment for a prolonged period.

Apollo Global Management ended March 2026 with $836 billion in fee-earning assets, up 17.9% sequentially and 40.4% year over year. Fee-related earnings increased 30.2% year over year to $728 million, with adjusted net income increasing 6.3% to $1.2 billion.

Apollo Global Management has built a solid position in the alternative-asset management industry, using its reputation, broad product portfolio, investment performance record, and a cadre of dedicated professionals to maintain its reputation as one of the go-to firms for institutional and high-net-worth investors looking for exposure to alternative assets. Unlike more traditional asset managers, which have had to rely on investor inaction to keep annual redemption rates low, the products offered by alternative asset managers can have lockup periods attached to them, which prevent investors from redeeming part or all of their investment for a prolonged period.

While Apollo has as much direct lending exposure as private-credit-heavy peers Ares and Blue Owl, the alternative asset manager also has a large life insurance/retirement operations that should help offset weakness in its asset management operations.

Shares of the alternative asset managers we cover were down close to 5% to 10% Feb. 19 but did recover to low- to mid-single-digit declines, after Blue Owl announced it was permanently halting redemptions at a private credit fund aimed at retail investors.

Shares of the alternative asset managers we cover have declined in the past several weeks, with the group as a whole down 10% since the start of 2025 and also down more than 15% over the past year.

Apollo Global Management ended December with $709 billion in fee-earning assets, up 3.5% sequentially and 24.7% year over year. Fee-related earnings increased 24.5% year over year to $690 million in the fourth quarter, and adjusted net income increased 13.2% to $1.5 billion.

Apollo has built a solid position in alternative-asset management, using its product portfolio, performance track record, and cadre of dedicated professionals to maintain its reputation as one of the go-to firms in the industry.

Apollo Global Management has built a solid position in the alternative-asset management industry, using its reputation, broad product portfolio, investment performance record, and a cadre of dedicated professionals to maintain its reputation as one of the go-to firms for institutional and high-net-worth investors looking for exposure to alternative assets. Unlike more traditional asset managers, which have had to rely on investor inaction to keep annual redemption rates low, the products offered by alternative asset managers can have lockup periods attached to them, which prevent investors from redeeming part or all of their investment for a prolonged period.

We are no longer providing equity research on the following alternative asset managers: Blackstone Group, Apollo Global Management, Carlyle Group, KKR, and Oaktree Capital Group. We provide broad coverage of more than 1,400 companies across more than 140 industries and adjust our coverage as necessary based on client demand.

Apollo reported a solid second quarter, and we plan to maintain our $28 fair value estimate. We’re most pleased to see the completion of capital raising for the massive $25 billion private equity fund, Fund IX, the largest in the industry’s history. The earlier success of the Fund VIII, raised in 2013 and generating net internal rates of return of 16% to date in a high-valuation environment helped attract LPs to this new fund, in our view. We would expect fees from the new fund to start contributing in 2019 and 2020, after the firm has put meaningful capital to work, as it does still need to invest about a quarter of Fund VIII still. Apollo’s current private equity investment pace of $6.7 billion over the last 12 months is a little over five years of investment activity given private equity dry powder of $36 billion. The end result means Apollo will need to source bigger private equity deals than it has previously, in our view. In addition, fund performance remained strong with the private equity funds appreciating 20% in the last 12 months, while credit has generated a net return of 9%. Overall assets under management now stand at $232 billion, up from $197 billion in the first quarter, while distributable earnings improved to $246 million from $233 million over the same time frame due to higher management fees.

Apollo Global Management's specialization in illiquid credit instruments offers substantial potential in the coming years. Banks of all sizes, under tough regulatory scrutiny following the Great Recession, are shedding risky and complex credit assets to shore up their capital ratios. We see this as a secular trend, particularly as regulatory rules force banks to shed risk, and Apollo's relationships and deep expertise position the firm to earn lucrative returns.

Apollo Global Management delivered a strong first quarter, and we plan to modestly boost our $20 fair value estimate while retaining our narrow moat rating. The firm did well across all fronts, including inflows, fund performance, realizations, and invested capital. Gross inflows of $5.3 billion (part of the $35.5 billion in inflows over the last 12 months) boosted overall assets under management to $197.5 billion, helped by private equity fund appreciation of 8%. Realizations of $1.7 billion contributed to distributable earnings more than doubling from last year’s levels to $240 million.

Apollo Global Management's specialization in illiquid credit instruments offers substantial potential in the coming years. Banks of all sizes, under tough regulatory scrutiny following the Great Recession, are shedding risky and complex credit assets to shore up their capital ratios. We see this as a secular trend, particularly as regulatory rules force banks to shed risk, and Apollo's relationships and deep expertise position the firm to earn lucrative returns.

Narrow-moat Apollo reported a strong fourth quarter, and we plan to boost our $18 fair value estimate about 10% to reflect an improving industry environment. With the potential for lower taxes, reduced regulation, and more aggressive growth policies under the new administration, we see the opportunity for more lucrative and faster exits, higher investment returns, investment activity, and the potential for an attractive C-corp conversion from a limited partner for Apollo.

Apollo delivered a solid third quarter amid continued improvement in many areas. We don’t expect to make a material change in our $18 fair value estimate and narrow moat rating. While distributable earnings were essentially flat from last year at $149 million versus $143 million, we’d note that it obscures the shift in earnings toward management fees, as management fee income improved to $148 million versus $96 million last year. Thus, when incentive income rebounds, Apollo is on a higher trajectory than before with a stable income stream. Driving the improvement in management fee income has been a very strong level of inflows at $40 billion over the past 12 months, including $7.2 billion in the last quarter, mostly due to $32 billion in new credit assets under management compared with $14 billion overall in the prior 12 months. Similarly, investing activity has jumped to $4.3 billion for the quarter and $16.5 billion for the past 12 months compared with $11.7 billion the prior 12 months. Accordingly, we’ve seen carry-generating AUM improve to $51.4 billion from $28 billion over the past year, with another $8.3 billion in AUM close to generating incentive income. Broadly, this suggests a rapid improvement in earnings for Apollo in 2017 and 2018, as we expect earnings to sharply increase over this time frame.

Apollo reported a strong second quarter with healthy levels of investing activity, solid fund performance, and a good recovery in incentive fees, owing to an 20% increase in its fair value for Athene (more than reversing a 11% decline from last quarter). We plan to maintain our $18 fair value estimate and narrow moat rating. Broadly, Apollo appears to have taken advantage of “selling everything that’s not nailed down,” per Leon Black’s comments in April 2013, as realizations have been low across Apollo’s portfolio in recent quarters, while it has been ramping up investment activity as it sees opportunities. In short, this is exactly what it has been doing for decades. We do think this will lead to stronger fund performance and build the next cycle of realizations down the road, ultimately driving Apollo’s financial performance to more normalized levels.