BlackRock: Upgrading to Overweight - A Strong 2Q26 with More Operating Leverage Ahead; Strong Fundamental Outlook Provides Upside to Stock That Has Lagged

Research evidence excerpt

BlackRock: Upgrading to Overweight - A Strong 2Q26 with More Operating Leverage Ahead; Strong Fundamental Outlook Provides Upside to Stock That Has Lagged

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

16 July 2026

BlackRock

Upgrading to Overweight - A Strong 2Q26 with More ▲Overweight

Operating Leverage Ahead; Strong Fundamental Previous: Neutral

Outlook Provides Upside to Stock That Has Lagged BLK, BLK US

Price (15 Jul 26):$1,093.40

▲Price Target (Dec-26):$1,364.00

Prior (Dec-26):$1,165.00

BlackRock reported 2Q26 adj. EPS of $13.91, well-ahead of Bloomberg Brokers, Asset Managers &

consensus estimates with top-line trends supported by a strong beat in net sales and Exchanges

higher avg AUM. With strong top line trends, operating leverage was evident with Michael Cho AC

2Q26 adj. operating margins of 45.9%, after 1Q26 margins of 44.5%. The closely (1-212) 622-3619

watched organic base fee growth was +8% in 2Q26, in line with 1Q26 levels. 2Q26 michael.cho@jpmchase.com

long-term inflows were $199bn, accelerating from 1Q26 inflows of $136bn. Kenneth B. Worthington, CFA

iShares continued to drive the strength of inflows with both equity and fixed (1-212) 622-6613

income ETFs delivering solid results. While private markets and private credit kenneth.b.worthington@jpmorgan.com

redemption concerns have continued to capture industry headlines and investor Madeline Daleiden

(1-212) 622-4911

sentiment, we note that retail private markets are not yet a material driver of flows madeline.daleiden@jpmchase.com

for BlackRock. Moreover, BlackRock delivered 2Q26 inflows of $15bn in its J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

private markets business (after $9bn inflows in 1Q26). Following the 2Q26

earnings release, we are upgrading the BlackRock stock to Overweight (from