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Lazard
(NYSE:LAZ)
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Rating:64Neutral
Price Target:
$46.00
▲(3.72% Upside)
Action:Reiterated
Date:07/29/26
The score is driven primarily by improving operating and cash-flow performance and a constructive earnings-call outlook (stronger 2H guidance, AUM/fee momentum, and a building advisory pipeline). Offsetting these positives are balance-sheet leverage risk and a softer technical setup with the stock below key medium/long-term moving averages; valuation is a modest positive due to the ~4.7% dividend yield and moderate P/E.
Positive Factors
AUM and recurring fee growth
Sustained AUM expansion and rising management fees increase recurring, fee‑based revenue, reducing dependence on volatile advisory fees. Strong net inflows and market appreciation enlarge the fee base, improving revenue predictability and supporting margin resilience over the medium term.
Negative Factors
Elevated leverage and capital structure risk
Leverage materially above equity constrains financial flexibility and raises downside vulnerability in a market slowdown. Even with improvement versus prior years, a high debt load reduces room for strategic investments or dividend consistency if advisory revenue or AUM gains weaken.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
AUM and recurring fee growth
Sustained AUM expansion and rising management fees increase recurring, fee‑based revenue, reducing dependence on volatile advisory fees. Strong net inflows and market appreciation enlarge the fee base, improving revenue predictability and supporting margin resilience over the medium term.
Read all positive factors
Lazard Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Revenue by Segment
Highlights the revenue generated from different business segments, providing insight into which areas are driving growth and how diversified the company's income streams are.
Highlights the revenue generated from different business segments, providing insight into which areas are driving growth and how diversified the company's income streams are.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyLazard (LAZ) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$4.13B
Dividend Yield4.72%
Average Volume (3M)2.63M
Price to Earnings (P/E)18.5
Beta (1Y)1.76
Revenue Growth5.74%
EPS Growth-30.53%
CountryUS
Employees3,309
SectorFinancial
Sector Strength70
IndustryFinancial - Capital Markets
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)2.29
Shares Outstanding97,450,570
10 Day Avg. Volume1,939,481
30 Day Avg. Volume2,629,849
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-1.17
Price to Book (P/B)5.42
Price to Sales (P/S)1.49
P/FCF Ratio9.37
Enterprise Value/Market Cap<0.01
Enterprise Value/Revenue<0.01
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit<0.01
Enterprise Value/Ebitda<0.01
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$44.83Price Target Upside1.09% Upside
Rating ConsensusHold
Number of Analyst Covering6
EPS Forecast (FY)2.23
Revenue Forecast (FY)$3.32B
Lazard Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Lazard, Inc. operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advis...
How the Company Makes Money
Lazard primarily makes money through two operating segments: Financial Advisory and Asset Management. (1) Financial Advisory revenue is largely fee-based and transaction-driven. The firm earns advisory fees for advising clients on M&A and strategi...
Lazard Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Jul 23, 2026
(Q2-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Oct 22, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call conveyed clear positive momentum across asset management and financial advisory: AUM and net inflows are strong, management fees rose 23% YoY, the advisory pipeline and large-deal activity are building, and the Campbell Lutyens acquisition provides a new private-capital growth leg. Near-term headwinds include an anomalous high Q2 tax charge, elevated compensation ratios driven by prior strategic MD turnover (the J‑curve), some AM outflows and limited private equity M&A activity. Management articulated a credible path to margin and comp leverage improvement over 2027–2028 as the J‑curve effects unwind and productivity ramps, supporting an overall constructive outlook.Positive Updates
Firm-wide revenue and scale
Firm-wide adjusted net revenue of $786 million in Q2 and $1.5 billion for the first half of 2026, demonstrating scale across businesses and an improving revenue base heading into the second half.
Negative Updates
Anomalous high tax expense in Q2
Adjusted effective tax rate of 69.7% in Q2 drove an earnings reduction; management described the increase as anomalous and tied to a catch-up adjustment, and reaffirmed expectation that full-year GAAP tax rate will be in the high‑20s percent range.
Read all updates
Q2-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Firm-wide revenue and scale
Firm-wide adjusted net revenue of $786 million in Q2 and $1.5 billion for the first half of 2026, demonstrating scale across businesses and an improving revenue base heading into the second half.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Lazard guided that the second half of 2026 should be stronger than the first—likely more pronounced than normal—and reiterated several quantitative targets and near‑term expectations: firm‑wide adjusted net revenue was $786M in Q2 and $1.5B in H1 (Financial Advisory $445M Q2 / $801M H1; Asset Management $331M Q2 / $640M H1); management fees were $310M in Q2 (+23% YoY, +5% QoQ); AUM was $285B as of June 30 (+15% YoY, +10% QoQ) with average AUM ~$279B (+17% YoY) and H1 net inflows ~$7.4B; market appreciation added $27B, FX subtracted $1B, outflows were $1.6B, and the Quant platform doubled to $50B (U.S. ETF AUM >$1B in Feb and ~$2B by July). They reported Q2 adjusted compensation expense of $550M (comp ratio 69.9%) and adjusted non‑comp expense of $172M (non‑comp ratio 21.8%), continue to accrue compensation at Q1 levels, and said the Q2 adjusted effective tax rate of 69.7% was anomalous with full‑year GAAP tax rate expected in the high‑20s. Capital deployment: returned ~$103M to shareholders in Q2 (quarterly dividend ~$49M, repurchases ~$59M), declared a $0.50/share quarterly dividend, restarted buybacks with a repurchase authorization just over $250M and expect continued buybacks. On M&A and talent, conflict clearances are up ~40% YoY (and >100% for deals >$5B), the weighted pipeline for 2027 is >2x year‑ago levels, they plan to add ~10–15 net MDs per year (238 MDs at end‑Q1 → ≥248 by Q1 2027) and target $10M revenue per MD by 2028, and they expect the Campbell Lutyens (Lazard CL) combination to be accretive in 2027 and to contribute roughly $500M of revenue next year.Lazard Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
72
Positive
Balance Sheet
48
Neutral
Cash Flow
70
Positive
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 3.29B | 3.19B | 3.09B | 2.55B | 2.83B | 3.27B |
| Gross Profit | 1.56B | 1.01B | 1.08B | 605.13M | 1.17B | 1.37B |
| EBITDA | 400.15M | 449.41M | 511.27M | 40.90M | 640.77M | 842.99M |
| Net Income | 226.83M | 236.83M | 279.91M | -75.48M | 357.52M | 528.06M |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 4.36B | 4.94B | 4.79B | 4.64B | 5.85B | 7.15B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 1.30B | 1.67B | 1.58B | 1.19B | 2.01B | 2.81B |
| Total Debt | 2.15B | 2.58B | 2.19B | 2.18B | 2.20B | 2.24B |
| Total Liabilities | 3.46B | 3.95B | 4.03B | 4.07B | 4.59B | 5.49B |
| Stockholders Equity | 914.30M | 873.65M | 636.24M | 423.76M | 556.46M | 975.22M |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 696.96M | 505.23M | 697.33M | 136.37M | 784.47M | 826.38M |
| Operating Cash Flow | 675.03M | 537.18M | 742.83M | 164.66M | 833.98M | 866.08M |
| Investing Cash Flow | -78.48M | -78.28M | 134.07M | -38.32M | -56.44M | -39.06M |
| Financing Cash Flow | -608.50M | -467.34M | -439.67M | -1.57B | -1.38B | 195.84M |
Lazard Technical Analysis
Positive
44.35
Price Trends
43.13
Positive
43.63
Negative
46.30
Negative
Market Momentum
0.13
Negative
52.92
Neutral
66.44
Neutral
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For LAZ, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 44.35 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 42.54, above the 50-day MA of 43.13, and below the 200-day MA of 46.30, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 0.13 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 52.92 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 66.44 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for LAZ.
Lazard Risk Analysis
Lazard disclosed 37 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Lazard reported the most risks in the "Finance & Corporate" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Lazard Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (68)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
83 Outperform | $5.71B | 19.12 | 24.74% | 2.64% | 3.68% | 42.71% | |
76 Outperform | $9.11B | 7.43 | 41.25% | 2.88% | 27.58% | 36.35% | |
73 Outperform | $5.44B | 22.14 | 43.55% | 3.88% | 13.69% | 12.33% | |
72 Outperform | $5.39B | 16.65 | 23.52% | 2.59% | 32.12% | 40.51% | |
69 Neutral | $9.10B | 12.87 | 20.18% | ― | 23.83% | 45.00% | |
68 Neutral | $18.00B | 11.42 | 9.92% | 3.81% | 9.73% | 1.22% | |
64 Neutral | $4.13B | 18.53 | 25.84% | 4.51% | 5.74% | -30.53% |
* Financial Sector Average
LAZ
Lazard
43.32
-5.88
-11.95%
SNEX
StoneX Group
66.73
27.98
72.23%
MKTX
Marketaxess Holdings
162.62
-18.45
-10.19%
PIPR
Piper Sandler
74.40
-3.88
-4.95%
MC
Moelis
67.29
-0.13
-0.20%
VIRT
Virtu Financial
55.58
14.09
33.98%
Lazard Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board Changes
Lazard announces board transition, appoints Kathy Elsesser
Positive
Jul 7, 2026
On July 7, 2026, Lazard announced that Andrew M. Alper retired from its Board of Directors and from his roles as Chair of the Compensation Committee and member of the Audit Committee, after more than 13 years of service. The company stated that Al...
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board ChangesRegulatory Filings and ComplianceShareholder Meetings
Lazard Shareholders Approve Board Declassification and Governance Changes
Positive
May 22, 2026
On May 21, 2026, Lazard, Inc. held its Annual Meeting of Shareholders, where investors approved an amendment to the company’s Certificate of Incorporation to declassify its board of directors over a three-year period, marking a shift away fr...
Business Operations and StrategyM&A Transactions
Lazard to Acquire Campbell Lutyens, Expanding Private Capital
Positive
May 1, 2026
On April 30, 2026, Lazard entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire 100% of Campbell Lutyens Holdings, creating what it positions as a leading global private capital advisory platform under the Lazard CL banner. The transaction, which ...
Business Operations and StrategyM&A Transactions
Lazard to Acquire Campbell Lutyens, Form Global Advisory Unit
Positive
Apr 30, 2026
On April 30, 2026, Lazard announced it had entered a definitive agreement to acquire Campbell Lutyens, a global private markets advisor focused on fund placement, secondary advisory and GP capital advisory. The acquisition will create Lazard CL, a...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.