Acadian (AAMI) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

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Date

Thursday, April 30, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. ET

Call participants

• President and Chief Executive Officer — Kelly Ann Young
• Chief Financial Officer — Scott Hynes

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Takeaways

• Assets Under Management (AUM) -- $195.7 billion as of March 31, 2026, up 61% year over year, a record high for Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI).
• Net Income (GAAP) -- Increased 21% year over year, with growth credited to higher management fees and partially offset by non-cash expenses related to equity and profit interests.
• Earnings per Share (EPS, GAAP) -- Rose 26% year over year.
• Economic Net Income (ENI) -- $37.6 million, up 85% year over year, driven by revenue growth.
• ENI Diluted EPS -- $1.05, an increase of 94% year over year.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- Grew 76% year over year, propelled by management fees.
• Total ENI Revenue -- $165 million, up 40% year over year, primarily due to increased recurring management and performance fees.
• Management Fees -- $159 million, up 41% year over year; driven by a 57% increase in average AUM.
• Net Flows -- $21.4 billion positive net flows in Q1, equal to 12% of beginning AUM, with a record quarterly contribution and granularity in product and client types.
• Performance Track Record -- As of March 31, 2026, 96% of strategies by revenue and 92% by asset weight outperformed benchmarks over three-, five-, and ten-year periods.
• Five-Year Excess Return -- Firmwide revenue-weighted annualized return in excess of benchmark at +4.1%; asset-weighted at +3.4%.
• ENI Operating Expenses -- Increased 13% year over year, attributed to higher sales compensation, portfolio costs, and investment in IT and infrastructure.
• ENI Operating Margin -- Expanded by 978 basis points to 38.1% from 28.3% year over year, reflecting improved operating leverage.
• Operating Expense Ratio -- Fell 10 percentage points to 38.4% year over year.
• Variable Compensation -- Increased 35% year over year; the ratio declined to 39.4% from 47.6%, with guidance for a full-year 2026 ratio of 40%-43% if revenue mix holds.
• Leverage and Liquidity -- Cash of $129 million and $97 million in seed investments; $200 million term loan balance and $85 million revolver balance (expected to be repaid by year-end); gross debt/adjusted EBITDA ratio at 1.3x and net debt/adjusted EBITDA at 0.7x, both down over 0.5 turn year over year.
• Share Count and Capital Return -- Diluted shares outstanding reduced 58% since Q4 2019; $1.4 billion returned via buybacks/dividends; Q1 buybacks totaled just under 100,000 shares, or $4.7 million at a $49.77 average price.
• Dividend Declaration -- Interim dividend of $0.10 per share payable June 26, 2026, to shareholders of record as of June 12, 2026.
• Product and Pipeline Update -- Enhanced strategies led inflows, with a $16 billion mandate from St. James’s Place; extension strategies contributed over half of the additional $4 billion in granular net flows excluding St. James’s Place; pipeline remains healthy and diversified across strategies and geographies.
• Fee Rate Commentary -- CFO Scott Hynes said, "I do think we are staring at a little bit of headwind in the next quarter as we realize the full run-rate impact of this continued mix shift to Enhanced."
• Seed Capital Program -- $97 million balance used mainly in systematic credit; no significant net increase planned in near term, with active recycling into new strategies.
• Client and Market Interest -- Notable demand for international and extension strategies, with managed volatility showing stabilization in outflows and potential strategic relevance.
• Technology and AI Focus -- CEO Kelly Ann Young said, "We view AI very much as an extension of that evolution rather than a disruption to it," describing current AI investments targeting productivity, software development, and research workflow enhancement.
• Capital Allocation Framework -- Prioritizes organic investments, then dividend, then buybacks; dividend increased to reflect scaling profit base but not revisited every quarter; preference for buybacks as excess capital grows.

Summary

Acadian Asset Management reported a record quarter, highlighted by a significant increase in recurring management fees and a $16 billion enhanced mandate win, driving total assets under management to $195.7 billion. The firm achieved nine consecutive quarters of positive net flows, with both revenue- and asset-weighted strategy performance surpassing benchmarks broadly across multiple time frames. Operating leverage improved meaningfully, as demonstrated by the substantial expansion in ENI operating margin and decline in expense ratios. Management called out a robust and diversified pipeline, ongoing strength in extensions and international offerings, and a firm commitment to technological advancement, particularly through expanded enterprise adoption of AI and machine learning applications. Capital allocation continues to focus on reinvestment in organic growth initiatives, cautious balance sheet management, and consistent capital returns to shareholders through buybacks and dividends.

• The board's approval of a $0.10 interim dividend marks a substantial payout increase relative to prior quarters, supported by stronger profitability and recurring revenue growth.
• Share buybacks reduced diluted shares outstanding to 35.8 million, cumulatively a 58% reduction since 2019 and signaling ongoing capital management discipline.
• ENI-based financial reporting remains the internal performance lens, with management reiterating ENI as a more accurate reflection of underlying business momentum than GAAP metrics.
• Strategic focus remains on risk-controlled growth, with extensive client engagement in new mandates, product extensions, and continued geographic diversification.

Industry glossary

• ENI (Economic Net Income): A non-GAAP metric management designates as closely reflecting core operating profitability, excluding certain non-cash or non-recurring items.
• NCCF (Net Client Cash Flow): Net change in client assets from inflows and outflows, excluding market appreciation/depreciation.
• Managed Vol: Refers to managed volatility equity strategies, which seek to lower portfolio volatility while maintaining equity market exposure.
• Extension Strategies: Investment strategies that use techniques like 130/30 or similar mandates to extend exposure to favored stocks while shorting others, aiming to enhance alpha potential relative to long-only equity strategies.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Kelly Ann Young, our President and Chief Executive Officer, will lead the call. And now I am pleased to turn the call over to Kelly.

Kelly Ann Young: Thanks, Melody. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. I am thrilled to share our exceptional Q1 2026 results with you. Our assets under management and profitability continue to reach new heights, with strong recent growth underscoring sustained momentum in our business and disciplined execution of our strategic plan. We started 2026 by delivering outstanding results across all metrics. Our U.S. GAAP net income attributable to controlling interest was up 21% and EPS was up 26% compared to the prior year, driven by increased management fees and partially offset by non-cash expenses representing changes in the value of Acadian LLC equity and profit interest.

ENI was up 85% to $37.6 million, driven by revenue growth, and our ENI diluted EPS of $1.05 was up 94%. Our adjusted EBITDA was up 76%, driven by increases in management fees. We realized £21.4 billion of positive net flows in Q1 2026, 12% of beginning AUM, a new quarterly record, driven by enhanced extensions and global equity strategies. And finally, AUM grew 61% from 2025 to $195.7 billion as of 03/31/2026, marking another record high for Acadian Asset Management. Turning to Slide 3, Acadian Asset Management’s investment performance track record remains strong. Five major implementations comprise the majority of our assets. As of 03/31/2026, Global Equity, Emerging Markets Equity, Non-U.S.

Equity, Small Cap Equity, and Enhanced Equity have 100% of assets outperforming benchmarks across three-, five-, and ten-year periods with only one exception. In 2026, U.S. equities declined more than non-U.S. equities while the dollar strengthened. Despite the market uncertainty, our disciplined systematic approach has stayed the course and generated consistent alpha for our clients. Acadian Asset Management’s short-term performance track record continued to improve in Q1 2026 after a challenged 2025. We remain confident that we are well positioned given our 40 years of experience through various market cycles and macro forces. Slide 4 details how our investment process has generated meaningful long-term alpha for our clients.

Our revenue-weighted five-year annualized return in excess of benchmark was +4.1% as of the end of Q1 2026 on a consolidated firmwide basis. Our asset-weighted five-year annualized return in excess of benchmark was +3.4% as of the end of Q1. By revenue weight, 96% of Acadian Asset Management strategies outperformed their respective benchmarks across three-, five-, and ten-year periods as of 03/31/2026. And by asset weight, 92% of Acadian Asset Management strategies outperformed their respective benchmarks across three-, five-, and ten-year periods. The next slide highlights our sustained momentum in net flows. We realized positive net flows of $21.4 billion in 2026, representing 12% of beginning AUM, achieving a new quarterly record high.

Gross inflows included a significant enhanced mandate from a premier U.K. wealth manager. This mandate expanded our non-U.S.-domiciled client base, as well as our presence in the wealth channel. Excluding this large enhanced mandate, the remainder of the net inflows were again diverse across products and client types, with extensions and global equity also generating strong NCCF. We have now generated nine consecutive quarters of positive net flows. We continue to focus on renewing our pipeline, which remains very healthy and active with the funding of a number of significant client wins in 2026.

I am now going to turn it over to our CFO, Scott Hynes, to provide you with more detail on our financial performance this quarter and an update on capital allocation.

Scott Hynes: Thanks, Kelly. Turning to Slide 7, our key GAAP and ENI performance metrics are summarized here on a quarterly basis. As previously noted, we manage the business using ENI metrics, which better reflect our underlying operating performance. You can find complete GAAP-to-ENI reconciliations in the appendix. Let me now turn to our core business results. Starting on Slide 8, total ENI revenue of $165 million increased 40% from Q1 2025, primarily due to recurring management fee growth and an increase in performance fees. Q1 2026 management fees of $159 million increased 41% from Q1 2025, reflecting a 57% increase in average AUM driven by strong positive NCCF and market appreciation over the last 12 months.

Stepping back, with average AUM of $190 billion in the first quarter, we have materially expanded our recurring management fee base and significantly strengthened Acadian Asset Management’s earnings power. Moving to Slide 9, in Q1 2026, ENI operating expenses increased 13%, primarily driven by higher sales-based compensation and portfolio-related costs due to AUM growth as well as general and administrative costs, including continued investment in IT and infrastructure. Our ENI operating margin expanded 978 basis points to 38.1% from 28.3% in Q1 2025, driven by an increase in ENI management fees, while our operating expense ratio fell 10 percentage points year over year to 38.4%, reflecting the impact of improved operating leverage.

Q1 2026 variable compensation increased 35% year on year, primarily driven by higher profit before variable compensation. Our Q1 2026 variable compensation ratio decreased to 39.4% from 47.6% in Q1 2025. Assuming revenue mix and levels similar to Q1 2026, contractual allocations would imply a full-year 2026 variable compensation ratio of approximately 40% to 43%. Turning to Slide 10 on capital resources and our strong balance sheet, as of 03/31/2026, we had $129 million of cash and $97 million of seed investments on the balance sheet, with a $200 million balance on our term loan credit facility and an $85 million balance on our revolving credit facility.

Note, the revolver balance reflects first-quarter seasonal needs and is expected to be fully paid down by year end. Our Q1 2026 gross debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.3x, and our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 0.7x. Note that while both these measures are slightly higher quarter on quarter, reflecting our typical first-quarter revolver draw, they are down over 0.5 turn year on year, driven by lower gross debt and higher adjusted EBITDA. Moving to Slide 11, we have a track record of creating significant value through share buybacks in recent years. Outstanding diluted shares have decreased 58% from 86 million in 4Q 2019 to 35.8 million shares in Q1 2026.

Over the same period, $1.4 billion in excess capital were returned to stockholders through share buybacks and dividends. During Q1 2026, we repurchased just under 100 thousand shares, or $4.7 million of stock, at a volume-weighted average price of $49.77. Acadian Asset Management’s board has declared an interim dividend of $0.10 per share to be paid on 06/26/2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on 06/12/2026. Going forward, we expect to continue generating strong free cash flow and returning excess capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases over time. We look forward to discussing our broader capital allocation framework in more detail at our upcoming investor forum.

I will now turn the call back over to Kelly.

Kelly Ann Young: Before moving to Q&A, let me recap some key points on Slide 12. Acadian Asset Management is competitively positioned as the only pure-play, publicly traded systematic manager with a 40-year track record and competitive edge in systematic investing. Our investment performance track record remains strong this quarter, with more than 96% of strategies by revenue outperforming over three-, five-, and ten-year periods. Business momentum continued apace in 2026, with record net inflows of $21.4 billion for Q1 2026, 12% of beginning AUM, reflecting nine consecutive quarters of positive net flows and reaching AUM of $195.7 billion, up 61% from Q1 2025, the highest in the firm’s history.

Q1 2026 financial results included record management fees of $159 million, up 41% from Q1 2025, ENI EPS of $1.05, up 94% from Q1 2025, and operating margin expansion to 38.1%, up nearly 10 percentage points from 28.3% in Q1 2025. Finally, capital management remained a focus in the quarter as we strengthened our balance sheet with conservative leverage ratios, continued to invest in organic growth, and returned excess capital to shareholders. We are pleased with our first-quarter results, we remain focused on disciplined execution, and we look forward to discussing our strategic priorities more at our first Acadian Asset Management Investor Forum on 05/19/2026. This concludes my prepared remarks.

Operator: We will now open the call for questions. At this time, those with questions should lift their phone receiver and press star followed by the number one on their telephone keypad. To cancel a question, please press star one again. Please hold for a brief moment while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Kenneth S. Lee with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Kenneth S. Lee: Hey, good morning, and thanks for taking my question. Just one on the institutional pipeline. Wondering if you could provide a little bit more color in terms of what you are seeing within there, what is the composition of strategies between Enhanced, and it looks as if you are getting some traction on the extension side there as well. Thanks.

Kelly Ann Young: Hi, Ken. Nice to speak to you again. The pipeline looks very healthy across a number of different strategies and client domiciles. As you will see, the Enhanced story continued to dominate Q1 of this year, but once we pull out that very large win from St. James’s Place, which was about $16 billion, it is an incredibly positive quarter with north of $4 billion in net flows over and above that. That was very granular this quarter. About half of that remaining $4 billion was coming from our extension strategies. We have certainly seen a pickup in momentum and interest in extensions, and that forms a very solid part of the pipeline.

As I say, this quarter’s dominant theme continues to show up very healthily in our pipeline, but it is granular. Global, Emerging Markets, International equities—all of those are very broad core strategies that Acadian Asset Management is well known for, and our flagship strategies are continuing to see a lot of interest and momentum. So the pipeline continues to be diversified. The team continues to do a great job in replenishing it despite that very large NCCF number for Q1. Again, it is very robust as we go into the second part of 2026.

Kenneth S. Lee: Right, and just one follow-up, if I may. Average fee rates did not change much quarter to quarter, despite the sizable mandate inclusion there. Wondering whether there is a little bit of timing in terms of impact—whether we should see some impact on average fee rate going forward, given the mix shift there?

Scott Hynes: Yes. Hey, Ken, it is Scott. Thanks for joining us. I think the short answer to your question is yes, a little bit. Again, as Kelly suggested, we are very proud of the large win from St. James’s this quarter. It did fund later in the quarter, so for all intents and purposes, we have not yet realized the full run-rate impact of that. As you know, the fee rate is subject to a whole bunch of things out of our control.

It is an output of market conditions and where client demand comes in next quarter, and, as Kelly already said, we have things—particularly when we think about extensions or the like—that can go above the current 34-basis-point fee rate generally. But all else equal, if nothing else should change, I do think we are staring at a little bit of headwind in the next quarter as we realize the full run-rate impact of this continued mix shift to Enhanced.

Kenneth S. Lee: Got it. Got it. And one final one for me. Seed capital investments—any particular outlook in terms of whether you could see that increasing over the near term? Just a little bit more color around that.

Kelly Ann Young: Sure. Yes. Again, we appreciate that the board and others have been very supportive with a very active seed program, as you know, Ken. The majority of our seed has been deployed into our systematic credit strategies, and we remain very excited about the trajectory there and the performance track record that the team is building. As you know, we have three launched today. Each of those are a little short of their three-year track record. We will hit three years in November for U.S. High Yield, closely followed by the remaining two strategies early next year.

I think we will look to have that seed remain in place for some time, although we are building momentum in the pipeline there for systematic credit, and we are very excited to hit three-year anniversaries considering where performance is trending. Beyond that, we have had an active seed program. We are looking at some other new strategies, ensuring that we have vehicles in place that meet the needs of our more diversified client base today, whether that be in the institutional or wealth space.

I do not think that the overall needs are going to increase significantly from here—perhaps on the margins—but underneath that number, there has been an active recycling program as we have launched extensions, our dynamics extension strategies, and as we see those gain traction with clients, we are able to redeploy that capital to other new areas of growth.

Scott Hynes: I would just add, Ken, onto that—Kelly hit the recycling. We feel like we are very well positioned in this regard. It is obviously very important to the business, and as Kelly suggests, as the team continues to innovate and we as a finance team think about supporting them—with just under $130 million of balance sheet cash today and this dynamic where we have been able to often recycle what we have already put in—again, we feel like we are really well positioned to support the business as it continues to innovate and meet client demand.

Kenneth S. Lee: Great. Very helpful there. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of John Joseph Dunn with Evercore. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

John Joseph Dunn: Thank you. I wanted to ask about renewed demand for particular non-U.S. exposure, but also the Managed Vol strategy, which I think could benefit from the current environment.

Kelly Ann Young: Hi, John. Nice to speak to you again. Yes, non-U.S. has certainly been a feature that I know we have talked about on these calls over the last 12 or 15 months or so. We are continuing to see a lot of interest in international strategies broadly. As you know, Acadian Asset Management has a very strong, compelling track record there dating back many decades, and we continue to see a lot of momentum there, particularly from U.S.-based clients. Managed Vol was a slight headwind in Q1, but we have certainly seen outflows there taper off quite dramatically versus two to three years ago.

These types of strategies, when we have seen what has been a challenging macro backdrop in Q1 with the tensions and conflict in the Middle East, are where strategies like Managed Vol come into their own. We have a number of longstanding clients in those strategies who have seen the real value of them at inflection points like that. Q1 was not an asset-gathering quarter for Managed Vol, but only a very slight headwind. Those outflows have certainly tapered off, and I think it is at the forefront of clients’ minds, with the current environment we are in, where Managed Vol may play a role in their strategic asset allocation.

John Joseph Dunn: Got it. And then maybe if you could opine on the dynamics and potential for systematic taking share potentially from private strategies and then also from the passive side?

Kelly Ann Young: Sure. We see this in the industry numbers, and we see it anecdotally as we talk to clients every day. Systematic is clearly a winner in the active equity space. When we talk about private investments—particularly private credit—we are excited about what we have built on the systematic credit side. We do think there are opportunities there as investors continue to evaluate their private credit investments. There is a place for something more like public systematic credit. As we build that track record and story—we think it is compelling—the transparency and liquidity will be compelling to investors on that side.

Scott Hynes: John, I would add that we are looking at an investor forum that we are excited about on 05/19/2026. As Kelly suggests, this all adds up as we think about our addressable market. We have been spending a lot of time as a management team thinking about it. It is rather large, it is diversified, and we look forward to talking about it in a more granular way on 05/19/2026.

John Joseph Dunn: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Michael J. Cyprys with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Michael J. Cyprys: Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. More of a big-picture question with all the advances in data science and AI models entering the generative era. How do you see that impacting the competitive landscape versus thematic investing? What are the risks, if any, of these quickly advancing models that could democratize access to folks creating systematic strategies and emerging new competitors? How do you see that evolving?

Kelly Ann Young: Michael, thanks for the question. We do not view AI as a strategic threat to the business model today. Systematic investment has relied on data, technology, and increasingly sophisticated research tools throughout our history and throughout the time of this industry. We view AI very much as an extension of that evolution rather than a disruption to it. From our side, machine learning and AI have been within Acadian Asset Management’s DNA for many years, and we are using AI to enhance our research development and our operating workflows. It is key that you keep human judgment and your investment discipline and risk controls at the center of that process.

Firms that adopt these tools effectively are going to strengthen their competitive position. We are at the forefront of that and intend to remain on the right side of that equation.

Michael J. Cyprys: Could you elaborate on how you are using the newer generative AI tools as well as agentic AI tools across the firm today, and how you are thinking about the opportunities?

Kelly Ann Young: The landscape is changing very quickly. We think there are huge opportunities. While AI is not new to us, the current generation of tools is allowing us to apply it more broadly across the firm. Investments today are focused on a couple of key areas: improving productivity through enterprise AI tools and enhancing software development through AI-assisted coding, and building selected AI-enabled services to support our research. We have people with many years of experience in computer science and machine learning, and we are encouraging people to experiment across different software and platforms while building a strong foundation, sharing guardrails, and ensuring security.

Michael J. Cyprys: Great. And then just a final question on capital allocation. Could you unpack how you are thinking about the dividend tiers—any particular growth rate or payout ratio that you are targeting—and then more broadly on buybacks and other uses, how you are approaching that given the significant free cash flow generation of the business?

Scott Hynes: As you suggest, the free cash flow—which, for all intents and purposes, the ENI that we disclose is a good proxy for—is very strong. We think we are very well positioned. We remain dynamic. As I have suggested before, we have a capital management framework. It starts with organic investments—seed capital and the like are at the top of the list. I would also include as we expand further down the list organic investments in things like AI. Then we get to a dividend, and then a return of excess capital via buybacks. I have used the word “athletic”; that continues to be the case.

We look at it every quarter, and as we think about organic needs and balancing those with returning excess capital, that is how we make the decision. Everything has an IRR frame; we pencil out returns on any of the investments we are making, and that informs us. This quarter, we landed where we landed. I would not say we manage to a payout ratio—it is much more dynamic than that. I know that is not an easy answer for modeling purposes, but it is dynamic each quarter given the priorities. On the dividend, as you know, we recently moved from $0.01 to $0.10. We are proud of that.

That is reflective of the new size that we have realized, the confidence we have in that larger recurring management fee base, and enhanced profitability. I would not think about us continuing to revisit the dividend every quarter. We are sensitive to it; we monitor it, but it is not something I would think of as us revisiting in a meaningful way every quarter. If we get to a different place—another step up in profitability—we would revisit that. There is no philosophy change here: when we think of a return of excess capital, I would continue to think the direction of travel will be more geared toward share repurchases versus a dividend. But these things evolve. Hopefully that helps.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference call back over to Kelly Ann Young. Please go ahead.

Kelly Ann Young: Thank you everyone for joining us today, and we look forward to seeing many of you at our investor forum in Boston on 05/19/2026. Have a great day.

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