The shares of Apollo Global Management are trading lower today after reporting an 8% decline in earnings for its December quarter. The investment manager posted$1.31 in earnings per share on $5.2 billion in revenue.
The stock price of Apollo Global Management is down by nearly 2% to $24.11 per share at the time of this writing, around 2:05 in the afternoon in New York.
Despite its weak quarterly earnings, RBC Capital Markets analyst Bulent Ozcan believed that Apollo Global Management remains a growth opportunity. He raised his price target for the stock to $30.
In a note to investors, Ozcan emphasized that Apollo Global Management’s distribution of $0.86 per share, was significantly higher than the expected $0.51 per share.
“While the current market environment did take its toll on the firm’s economic net income, which reflects marks, it seems that the underlying business remains robust. The biggest surprise to us was Apollo’s approach to retail investing,” wrote Ozcan.
[drizzle]Ozcan noted that Apollo Global Management is now a sub-advisor for the Global Strategic Income Fund of Oppenheimer (pending final approval). It is the first sub-advisory relationship of the firm with a 40Act fund.
During its earnings call, Apollo Global Management announced that MidCap Financial will pursue opportunities in the senior secured lending market, and expects to bring total gross assets between $5 billion to $7 billion.
Apollo Global Management maintained investing discipline by deploying $2.2 billion of capital at 6x EV/EBITDA multiple in 2014, lower than the 10x to 11x industry average.
Apollo Global Management’s capital raising is expected to be strong this year. The firm launched its second natural resource fund, which will be bigger.
It could raise energy credit funds, and continue to grow its wallet share with existing investors. It would also raise capital for third structured credit recovery fund, new CLOs, and second U.S. real estate fund.
Its private equity funds energy exposure is approximately 5% of its $120 billion assets under management (AUM). Its ENI was significantly affected by performance. Excluding the impact of energy, Apollo Global Management’s funds would have been incrementally up by 4.5%.
The performance of its credit funds was impacted by 100 bps due to the declining oil prices.
Apollo Global Management would increase its energy exposure selectively based on investment opportunities.
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