Cohen & Steers Reports Solid Q2

Key Points

• Management highlighted continuing strength in investment performance and expansion of product offerings, but flagged softness in institutional advisory pipeline and competitive industry conditions.

• New active ETFs and a private real estate strategy were launched, while net inflows in wealth channels remained a notable positive according to prior period data.

• These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires ›

Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS), a global investment manager known for its focus on real assets and alternative income, released its second quarter fiscal 2025 earnings on July 17, 2025. Management commentary and prior quarter data offer insight into ongoing business momentum, recent product development, and persistent market challenges.

Source: Analyst estimates for the quarter provided by FactSet.

Company Overview and Business Model

Cohen & Steers specializes in investment management for real assets and alternative income, focusing on areas like real estate securities, private real estate, preferred securities, infrastructure, and natural resource equities. It serves a mix of institutional and wealth management clients worldwide, operating through asset management teams in New York, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore.

The company’s business model centers on providing active, specialist investment strategies through various vehicles such as open-end funds, closed-end funds, separately managed accounts, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Success depends on investment performance, client satisfaction, and expansion into new asset classes and geographic markets. Recently, Cohen & Steers has focused on broadening its product range and strengthening its wealth channel distribution, responding to investor demand for real assets and income solutions.

Quarterly Highlights and Performance Trends

During the recent period, management reinforced its commitment to specialist active strategies in real assets, including listed and private real estate, preferred securities, global infrastructure, and natural resource equities. According to prior quarter disclosures, 81% of assets under management (AUM) outperformed their benchmarks in Q1, and Long-term performance remained strong, with over 95% of AUM outperforming on a three-, five-, and ten-year basis as of Q1. The CNS Income Opportunities REIT, a private real estate investment trust, returned 13.4% for the twelve months ended February, well ahead of the 4.4 % average for non-traded REIT peers, marking a standout product performance.

Product innovation advanced with new active ETFs focusing on real estate, preferreds, and natural resources, specifically catering to wealth channel clients such as registered investment advisers (RIAs) and bank platforms. Management noted “modest inflows” into these newly launched ETFs but was encouraged by positive momentum in the natural resource equities ETF. Open-end fund channels drove firmwide net inflows for the third consecutive quarter as of Q1, and open-end fund gross sales remained in line with historical averages at $12.8 billion annualized for Q1.

However, softness in the institutional advisory channel was evident. Net outflows in this segment totaled $108 million in Q1, and the institutional “unfunded pipeline” dropped sharply to $61 million from $531 million in the previous period as of Q1. Management acknowledged this as a notable risk, attributing it partly to client rebalancing and account terminations, but suggested future improvements as new mandates are secured and asset allocation trends favor real assets.

The offshore UCITS (also called CCAV) product family continued its growth, with six sub-funds and $1.2 billion in AUM, recording inflows in 19 of the past 21 quarters. Another recent launch was a short-duration preferred stock sub-fund, aiming to offer investors moderate duration and solid credit quality within a $1.3 trillion investment universe.

Competition, particularly for wealth channel flows and institutional mandates, remained intense as industry-wide data showed outflows from many open-end fund categories. Despite this, Cohen & Steers achieved net inflows in areas like global listed infrastructure, and expanded its reach among model portfolio builders and RIAs. Management stated that product differentiation and strong investment performance continued to drive market share gains in target strategies.

Outlook and What to Watch

Looking forward, management reiterated its priority to invest in distribution, focusing especially on the wealth channel and multifamily offices. Planned new hires in these areas remain subject to macro conditions, with leadership adopting a cautious approach to additional expansion until the market outlook becomes clearer. Company resources will continue to target both organic product development and potential partnerships or acquisitions, especially in strategies or vehicles that expand the addressable client base.

No explicit financial guidance was provided for the upcoming periods.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

Where to invest $1,000 right now

When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,048%* — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500.

They just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025

JesterAI is a Foolish AI, based on a variety of Large Language Models (LLMs) and proprietary Motley Fool systems. All articles published by JesterAI are reviewed by our editorial team, and The Motley Fool takes ultimate responsibility for the content of this article. JesterAI cannot own stocks and so it has no positions in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.