Ares Management Corporation (ARES) Earnings

metirFinance

Sep 2026upcoming

Next quarter

Reports Nov 2, 2026.

Consensus is $1.33 EPS for Sep 2026 across 7 estimates, ranging $1.21 to $1.57.

ARES Jun 2026

Reported Jul 31, 2026

: 0.00%
: +8.18%

: $1.29
: $1.29
: —
: $1.43B

Reported results

: $1.43B; from $1.35B
: $150.63M; from $137.06M

Highlights

Earnings: After-tax Realized Income per share was $1.29, exactly matching consensus, while GAAP diluted EPS was $0.49 versus $0.46 a year ago.
Core profitability: Fee Related Earnings rose 20% year over year to $491.1 million, with the margin expanding to 42.2% from 41.2%.
Realized Income: Realized Income increased 31% to $521.5 million, helped by higher FRE and $50.9 million of realized net performance income versus $16.5 million last year.
Fundraising: Ares raised $36.4 billion during the quarter, including $34.4 billion of net capital inflows; Credit accounted for $23.7 billion and Real Assets for $9.7 billion.
Assets under management: AUM reached $671.3 billion, up 17% year over year and $27.1 billion sequentially; FPAUM rose 17% year over year to $409.9 billion.
Perpetual capital: Perpetual capital AUM increased 34% year over year to $223.3 billion, supporting the company’s recurring fee base.
Deployment: Gross capital deployment was $35.9 billion, up from $26.9 billion a year ago, including $21.0 billion from perpetual capital vehicles and $15.2 billion from drawdown funds.
Future fee capacity: AUM not yet paying fees available for future deployment was $92.6 billion, which Ares estimates could generate approximately $807.4 million of incremental annual management fees if invested.

Analysis

Ares delivered an in-line quarter on its preferred earnings measure: after-tax Realized Income per share was $1.29, matching consensus. GAAP revenue was $1.43 billion, up 6% from $1.35 billion a year ago and roughly 2% above the $1.40 billion reported in the first quarter. Net income attributable to Ares was $150.6 million, versus $137.1 million in Q2 2025 and $142.6 million in Q1 2026. GAAP diluted EPS was $0.49, while the higher $1.29 after-tax Realized Income per share reflects Ares’ operating metric for distributable performance.

The print was defined more by fee growth and fundraising than by GAAP earnings volatility. FRE rose 20% year over year to $491.1 million, while Realized Income increased 31% to $521.5 million. Management fees increased 14% on an unconsolidated basis, and the FRE margin improved by 100 basis points to 42.2%. Fundraising was strong at $36.4 billion, producing $34.4 billion of net inflows, and deployment accelerated to $35.9 billion. AUM grew 17% to $671.3 billion, with perpetual capital up 34% to $223.3 billion. Credit remained the central engine, but Real Assets and Secondaries also posted notable earnings growth.

Fee earnings and realization

Fee Related Earnings: FRE rose 20% year over year to $491.1 million, compared with $409.1 million in Q2 2025. The 42.2% margin was up from 41.2%, despite higher compensation and general operating expenses.
Management fees: Unconsolidated management fees increased 14% to $1.03 billion, supported by deployment in U.S. and European direct lending and alternative credit, as well as growth in perpetual wealth vehicles. The effective management fee rate declined to 0.97% from 1.00%.
Realized Income: RI rose 31% to $521.5 million. Realized net performance income was $50.9 million, up from $16.5 million, while realized investment income increased to $28.7 million from $12.2 million.
GAAP reconciliation: GAAP net income attributable to Ares was $150.6 million, versus $137.1 million a year earlier. GAAP carried interest allocation fell to $249.9 million from $323.9 million, underscoring why Ares’ realized earnings measures were more representative of the quarter’s operating momentum.

Fundraising and AUM

Fundraising: Gross fundraising totaled $36.4 billion and net inflows were $34.4 billion. Credit led with $23.7 billion, followed by Real Assets at $9.7 billion, Secondaries at $1.7 billion and Insurance at $1.3 billion.
AUM growth: Total AUM ended at $671.3 billion, up 17% year over year and from $644.3 billion in Q1. Credit AUM increased 17% to $440.5 billion, Real Assets rose 17% to $151.2 billion, and Secondaries grew 30% to $44.2 billion.
Fee base: FPAUM reached $409.9 billion, up 17% year over year and 3% sequentially. Perpetual capital AUM rose 34% year over year to $223.3 billion; 84% of AUM and 94% of management fees came from perpetual capital or long-dated funds.
Pipeline: AUM not yet paying fees totaled $114.0 billion, including $92.6 billion available for future deployment and $4.1 billion of development assets not yet stabilized. Ares estimated approximately $828.2 million of potential incremental annual management fees from those categories, subject to deployment and stabilization.

Credit-led segment growth

Credit: Credit Group FRE increased 17% to $498.5 million and Realized Income rose 25% to $543.8 million. Gross deployment was $23.7 billion, led by $12.4 billion in U.S. direct lending, $4.4 billion in alternative credit and $4.2 billion in European direct lending.
Real Assets: FRE grew 30% to $147.2 million and Realized Income increased 48% to $144.4 million. Deployment was $7.6 billion, split between $4.0 billion in real estate and $3.6 billion in infrastructure.
Secondaries: FRE rose 21% to $60.9 million and Realized Income increased 23% to $59.7 million. Fee-related performance revenues increased 141% to $39.1 million, driven by NAV appreciation in APMF.
Private Equity: FRE increased 55% to $15.3 million as expenses declined and management fees rose 7%. Realized Income fell 6% to $12.1 million, while deployment declined to $0.1 billion from $0.8 billion a year earlier.

Investment performance

Credit returns: Q2 gross returns were 4.1% for Alternative Credit, 2.4% for Opportunistic Credit, 2.5% for U.S. Senior Direct Lending and 1.5% for European Direct Lending. Net composite returns were 2.9%, 1.7%, 1.7% and 0.9%, respectively.
Real Assets returns: Infrastructure equity produced a 9.0% gross quarterly return and a 7.3% net composite return. Americas real estate equity returned 0.6% gross, while the net composite return was negative 0.4%.
Secondaries and private equity: Private equity secondaries generated a negative 5.3% gross quarterly return, and the net composite return was negative 3.7%. Corporate private equity returned 2.4% gross and 2.1% net at the fund level.
Incentive base: Incentive Eligible AUM increased 16% year over year to $352.5 billion, while Incentive Generating AUM rose 21% to $169.0 billion. Excluding Part II fee assets, 86% of invested incentive-eligible AUM was generating incentive fees.

Capital and shareholder returns

Liquidity: Ares reported $1.44 billion of available liquidity, consisting of $557.1 million of cash and cash equivalents plus available capacity on its revolving credit facility. The company had $2.96 billion of term debt obligations and $1.62 billion drawn on its $2.5 billion revolver.
Balance sheet: The unconsolidated corporate investment portfolio was $3.01 billion at June 30, 2026, while net accrued performance income was $1.02 billion, little changed from $1.02 billion at year-end 2025.
Dividend: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.35 per Class A and non-voting common share, payable September 30, 2026. It also declared a $0.84375 dividend per Series B mandatory convertible preferred share.
Corporate action: Ares Acquisition Corporation III completed its initial public offering on July 1, generating $395.0 million of gross proceeds.

Ares Management Corporation

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