Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, posted fourth-quarter results that outpaced Wall Street expectations as robust deal activity and gains in its data center holdings supported performance.
During the three months ending in December, the New York-based firm recorded $957 million in proceeds from asset sales, a 59% increase from the same period a year earlier. The company also attracted $71.5 billion in new capital in the quarter and now oversees $1.27 trillion in assets under management.
Dealmaking and sector momentum
Financial investors and corporations returned to mergers and acquisitions in 2025 after a turbulent start to the year, a rebound the company said was aided by easing interest rates and reduced policy uncertainty. The activity helped Blackstone monetize holdings and realize gains from strategic disposals during the period.
Blackstone’s infrastructure funds posted an 8.4% increase in valuations in the quarter. That uplift was largely attributable to QTS, the data center operator Blackstone acquired in 2021. Management said QTS is benefiting from demand to develop artificial intelligence workloads, supporting the broader infrastructure performance.
"Our focus on investing at massive scale in the build-out of digital and energy infrastructure continues to create significant value," Chief Executive Officer Stephen Schwarzman said.
The firm also retains exposure to QTS through its real estate investment trust, BREIT, which returned 8.1% in 2025. That performance marked a recovery following several difficult years beginning in late 2022, when falling property prices and rising interest rates prompted investors to redeem funds.
Cash available to shareholders and analyst expectations
Distributable earnings, the cash measure the firm uses to gauge funds available for shareholder payouts, rose 3% to $2.2 billion in the quarter. That amounted to $1.75 per share, beating the $1.54 per-share consensus from analysts polled by LSEG. For the full year, distributable earnings came to $5.57 per share, above the $5.35 expectation in the LSEG poll.
During the period, Blackstone deployed $42 billion to make purchases, including the acquisition of Japanese engineering staffing firm TechnoPro, and committed an additional $23 billion toward larger asset buys such as medical device maker Hologic.
Market reaction and analyst perspectives
Blackstone’s shares fell roughly 11% over the previous year, in line with declines among other large alternative asset managers. Piper Sandler described the stock as "unloved," assigning a "neutral" rating while noting the firm stands to gain from increased transaction flow and performance fees if activity continues to pick up.
The company’s $611 billion global real estate portfolio drew scrutiny during the month after an announcement by the President threatening to bar large institutional investors from acquiring single-family homes. Blackstone’s stock was trading at 23 times its forecast 2026 earnings, though Piper Sandler noted projected fee growth of only low double digits.
Shares briefly traded down as much as 8% in reaction to various headlines and market moves, but some analysts downplayed the broader risk. Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski estimated Blackstone’s exposure to the single-family housing issue at around $6 billion out of more than $1.2 trillion in total, calling that level "obviously trivial."
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