greeksoup/ stock research

StepStone Group Inc.: Q2 FY2026 earnings call

What management said about Q2 FY2026, from the documents filed with the SEC on 6 November 2025: press release. Guidance figures: 1 kept. The quarter’s numbers.

Key takeaways

  • Total revenues rose 67% on performance fees: Total revenues for the quarter were $454.2 million, against $271.7 million a year earlier. Management and advisory fees, net, were $215.5 million, up 17%, and performance fees supplied most of the increase. Source
  • Net income swung to a net loss: The company reported a net loss of $575.5 million, against net income of $53.1 million a year earlier. Equity-based compensation was $884.5 million, against $37.3 million, and diluted loss per share was $4.66. Source
  • Adjusted net income up 25%: Adjusted net income was $66.7 million, against $53.6 million, and adjusted net income per share was $0.54, against $0.45. The measure excludes unrealized carried interest and equity-based compensation. Source
  • Performance fees rose 175%: Total performance fees were $238.7 million, against $86.9 million. Unrealized carried interest allocations were $147.8 million, against $52.2 million, and realized carried interest allocations were $58.9 million, against $17.6 million. Source
  • Real estate fee-earning AUM rose 44%: Fee-earning AUM rose 44% in real estate to $13.4 billion, 32% in private debt to $22.4 billion, 29% in infrastructure to $27.0 billion and 22% in private equity to $69.9 billion. Source
  • Contributions to fee-earning AUM up 59%: Contributions to fee-earning AUM were $6.1 billion in the quarter, against $3.8 billion a year earlier. Distributions were $1.3 billion, against $0.8 billion. Source
  • FRE margin fell to 36%: Fee-related earnings were $78.6 million, up 9%, and the FRE margin was 36%, against 39% a year earlier. Six-month FRE margin was 37%, against 40%. Source

Guidance

AreaPeriodFigureAgainst last quarter
Quarterly cash dividend per share Sourcenext quarterly payment$0.28 per shareKept

Results and growth drivers

  • Total revenues rose 67% on performance fees: Total revenues for the quarter were $454.2 million, against $271.7 million a year earlier. Management and advisory fees, net, were $215.5 million, up 17%, and performance fees supplied most of the increase. Source
  • Net income swung to a net loss: The company reported a net loss of $575.5 million, against net income of $53.1 million a year earlier. Equity-based compensation was $884.5 million, against $37.3 million, and diluted loss per share was $4.66. Source
  • Adjusted net income up 25%: Adjusted net income was $66.7 million, against $53.6 million, and adjusted net income per share was $0.54, against $0.45. The measure excludes unrealized carried interest and equity-based compensation. Source

Performance fees and carried interest

  • Performance fees rose 175%: Total performance fees were $238.7 million, against $86.9 million. Unrealized carried interest allocations were $147.8 million, against $52.2 million, and realized carried interest allocations were $58.9 million, against $17.6 million. Source
  • Realized performance fees up 178%: Gross realized performance fees were $64.9 million, against $23.3 million, and performance fee-related earnings were $33.9 million, against $14.5 million. The company defines the latter as gross realized performance fees less realized performance fee-related compensation. Source
  • Legacy Greenspring carry nearly doubled: Legacy Greenspring carried interest allocations were $27.1 million, against $13.9 million. The company notes these are attributable to consolidated VIEs for which it did not acquire any direct economic interests. Source
  • Accrued carried interest reached $1.73 billion: Accrued carried interest allocations were $1.73 billion at September 30, 2025, up 26% from $1.38 billion a year earlier, and $1.50 billion at March 31, 2025. Source

Fee-earning AUM by asset class

  • Real estate fee-earning AUM rose 44%: Fee-earning AUM rose 44% in real estate to $13.4 billion, 32% in private debt to $22.4 billion, 29% in infrastructure to $27.0 billion and 22% in private equity to $69.9 billion. Source
  • AUM grew in every asset class: Assets under management rose 16% in private equity to $106.4 billion, 20% in infrastructure to $42.4 billion, 27% in private debt to $40.4 billion and 17% in real estate to $19.9 billion. Source
  • Advisory-only assets rose 25% in infrastructure: Assets under advisement rose 25% in infrastructure to $78.8 billion, 21% in private debt to $23.4 billion, 11% in private equity to $283.0 billion and 5% in real estate to $176.4 billion. Source

Products and client vehicles

  • Commingled funds grew faster than accounts: Fee-earning AUM in focused commingled funds rose 29% to $54.6 billion, and in separately managed accounts 26% to $78.2 billion. Advisory AUM rose 8% to $16.1 billion. Source
  • Fund and account fee revenue both rose: Fee revenues from focused commingled funds were $127.1 million, against $107.9 million, and from separately managed accounts $71.7 million, against $61.4 million a year earlier. Source
  • Advisory fee revenue fell from prior quarter: Advisory and other services revenue was $16.3 million, down from $19.9 million in the prior quarter and up from $14.9 million a year earlier. Source

Capital raised and distributions

  • Contributions to fee-earning AUM up 59%: Contributions to fee-earning AUM were $6.1 billion in the quarter, against $3.8 billion a year earlier. Distributions were $1.3 billion, against $0.8 billion. Source
  • Market value and FX added $771 million: Market value, FX and other changes added $771 million to fee-earning AUM, compared with $1.0 billion a year earlier and $2.2 billion in the prior quarter. Source
  • Six-month contributions below prior year: Six-month contributions were $11.1 billion, against $11.6 billion a year earlier. Six-month distributions were $2.7 billion, against $2.3 billion. Source

Costs and margins

  • FRE margin fell to 36%: Fee-related earnings were $78.6 million, up 9%, and the FRE margin was 36%, against 39% a year earlier. Six-month FRE margin was 37%, against 40%. Source
  • Cash-based compensation rose 21%: Cash-based compensation was $100.3 million, against $82.9 million a year earlier. General, administrative and other expense was $45.3 million, against $50.1 million. Source
  • Performance fee compensation rose: Realized performance fee-related compensation was $31.0 million, against $8.8 million, and unrealized performance fee-related compensation was $88.7 million, against $27.7 million. Source
  • Equity compensation adjusted out of ANI: Adjusted equity-based compensation, after removing IPO-related awards and profits interests, was $4.3 million, against $2.4 million a year earlier. Removed amounts totaled $880.2 million. Source

Balance sheet and cash

  • Cash rose from June quarter-end: Cash and cash equivalents were $229.8 million at September 30, 2025, up from $191.5 million at June 30, 2025, and down from $244.8 million at March 31, 2025. Source
  • Accrued compensation and benefits more than doubled: Accrued compensation and benefits were $1.83 billion, against $736.7 million at March 31, 2025. Accrued carried interest-related compensation was $891.5 million, against $758.0 million. Source
  • Deferred tax assets rose: Deferred income tax assets were $524.3 million, against $382.9 million at March 31, 2025, with the same balance sheet date comparison used for each line. Source
  • Total equity fell from March 31: Total stockholders’ equity was $546.8 million, against $1.39 billion at March 31, 2025, and the accumulated deficit was $720.4 million. Source

Dividend and share count

  • No supplemental dividend this quarter: No supplemental dividend per share is shown for the quarter, after $0.40 in the June 2025 quarter. Source
  • Class A shares outstanding rose: Class A shares outstanding were 79.1 million at September 30, 2025, against 76.8 million at March 31, 2025. Class B shares outstanding were 39.1 million, against 39.7 million. Source
  • Adjusted weighted shares rose 3%: Adjusted weighted-average shares were 122.5 million, against 118.8 million a year earlier, the base for ANI per share. Source

Coming up, as management said on 6 November 2025

  • Dividend payment and record date: Quarterly dividend is to be paid December 15, with holders of record fixed at the close of business on November 28. Source
  • Full results presentation on website: A full detailed presentation of the second quarter fiscal 2026 results is accessible on the company’s shareholders website. Source

Figures management reported

FigureReported
Assets under management Source$209.1 billion
Assets under advisement Source$561.6 billion
Fee-earning AUM Source$132.8 billion
Undeployed fee-earning capital Source$29.8 billion
Total capital responsibility Source$770.7 billion

Other quarters

Summarised with AI from the documents the company filed with the SEC. Every point is checked against the filing before it is shown: management’s own words word for word, figures against the line or table row they come from. A point that fails the check is left out. Source opens the filing at that line.