BlackRock’s ETFs Boost Assets

BlackRock said first-quarter earnings rose 10% as its exchange-traded stock funds drew client cash and assets increased.

Net income climbed to $632 million, or $3.62 a share, from $572 million, or $3.14, a year earlier, the New York-based company said on Tuesday, in a statement. Excluding certain items, BlackRock’s adjusted earnings of $3.65 a share beat the $3.57 average estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Laurence Fink has reorganized BlackRock’s senior leadership and last month announced 300 job cuts. Last year, BlackRock created a series of lower-fee ETFs to reverse a decline in its U.S. market share and in March announced a partnership with Fidelity Investments as it seeks to sell more ETFs directly to U.S. retail investors. BlackRock gathered $40.5 billion in the first quarter, boosting assets 3.8% to $3.9 trillion.

Net long-term deposits “were solid led by strength in equity ETFs and multi-asset products,” saidDaniel Fannon, a San Francisco-based analyst at Jefferies & Co., who had expected clients to put $25 billion into BlackRock funds during the quarter.

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