Blackstone Stock: Is BX Underperforming the Financial Sector?

With a market cap of $86.9 billion,  Blackstone Inc. (BX)  is a global alternative asset manager and financial advisory firm with offices across Asia, Europe, North America, and Central America. It operates through four key segments - Real Estate; Private Equity; Hedge Fund Solutions; and Credit & Insurance, investing on behalf of institutional and individual clients across asset classes and geographies. 

Companies valued at $10 billion or more are generally classified as “large-cap” stocks, and Blackstone fits this criterion perfectly. The firm specializes in a wide range of strategies, including opportunistic real estate, large and mid-cap buyouts, credit investments, hedge fund solutions, and growth equity, targeting companies with enterprise values between $500 million and $5 billion.

Shares of the New York-based company have fallen 39.6% from its 52-week high of $190.09. Blackstone’s shares have dipped marginally over the past three months, lagging behind the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF’s (XLF) marginal gain over the same time frame.

In the longer term, BX stock is down 25.5% on a YTD basis, underperforming XLF’s 6% dip. Moreover, shares of the asset management giant have decreased 17.2% over the past 52 weeks, compared to XLF’s marginal return over the same time frame.

Despite recent fluctuations, the stock has been trading below its 50-day moving average since October last year. In addition, it has fallen below its 200-day moving average since February.

Blackstone reported stronger-than-expected Q1 2026 results on Apr. 23, with distributable EPS of $1.36 beating the consensus estimate and fee-related earnings of $1.55 billion ($1.26 per share) exceeding expectations. The company also reported total AUM of $1.30 trillion, above the consensus, while fee-earning AUM increased to $937.6 billion and net management and advisory fees rose to $2.13 billion. However, the stock fell 5.7% on that day.

In contrast, BX stock has performed weaker than its rival, BlackRock, Inc. (BLK). BlackRock’s shares have declined 4.7% on a YTD basis and gained 4.2% over the past 52 weeks, 

Despite the stock’s underperformance, analysts remain moderately optimistic on BX. The stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from 22 analysts' coverage, and the mean price target of $144.24 is a premium of 23.2% to current levels.