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StepStone Group
(NASDAQ:STEP)
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Rating:54Neutral
Price Target:
$52.00
▲(4.48% Upside)
Action:Reiterated
Date:09/09/26
The score is held back primarily by weak financial performance (losses, negative equity, and cash burn), which outweighs the more favorable earnings-call operating momentum. Technicals are moderately supportive and the dividend helps valuation, but the negative P/E and balance-sheet risk keep the overall score in the mid-range.
Positive Factors
Fee-related earnings growth
Strong fee-related earnings growth and a healthy margin indicate that StepStone’s recurring management-fee platform is scaling effectively. This supports more durable earnings power, creates operating leverage, and gives the firm greater capacity to reinvest in products, distribution, and client service.
Negative Factors
Negative equity and leverage
Negative shareholders’ equity combined with significant debt reduces financial flexibility and increases sensitivity to additional losses. This balance-sheet structure can constrain capital allocation, make funding decisions more consequential, and raise the financial risk surrounding future strategic investments.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Fee-related earnings growth
Strong fee-related earnings growth and a healthy margin indicate that StepStone’s recurring management-fee platform is scaling effectively. This supports more durable earnings power, creates operating leverage, and gives the firm greater capacity to reinvest in products, distribution, and client service.
Read all positive factors
StepStone Group Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Revenue by Type
Highlights the different sources of revenue, providing insight into the company's business model and how diversified its income streams are.
Highlights the different sources of revenue, providing insight into the company's business model and how diversified its income streams are.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyStepStone Group (STEP) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$6.14B
Dividend Yield3.39%
Average Volume (3M)1.23M
Price to Earnings (P/E)―
Beta (1Y)1.60
Revenue Growth51.09%
EPS Growth-150.23%
CountryUS
Employees1,355
SectorFinancial
Sector Strength70
IndustryAsset Management
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)-7.72
Shares Outstanding82,288,910
10 Day Avg. Volume890,047
30 Day Avg. Volume1,233,718
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-0.04
Price to Book (P/B)-9.27
Price to Sales (P/S)1.92
P/FCF Ratio60.00
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
$66.75Price Target Upside34.12% Upside
Rating ConsensusStrong Buy
Number of Analyst Covering8
EPS Forecast (FY)2.48
Revenue Forecast (FY)$1.48B
StepStone Group Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
StepStone Group Inc. is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in primary, direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in private debt, venture debt, incuba...
How the Company Makes Money
StepStone Group primarily makes money by earning fees tied to the private-market assets it manages and advises for clients. Its key revenue streams include: (1) Management fees: recurring, contract-based fees charged on assets under management (AU...
StepStone Group Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Aug 06, 2026
(Q1-2027)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Nov 05, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call highlighted robust growth in core operating metrics — fee revenue (+27% YoY), fee-related earnings (+30% YoY), record fundraising, strong Private Wealth momentum, meaningful accrued carry, and capital returns (dividend increase and buybacks). Offsetting items include a GAAP net loss driven by accounting for the Private Wealth buy-in, near-term fee-rate pressure from changed secondaries fee structures, expense increases, the timing variability of performance fees, and complexity/capital requirements associated with the upcoming Private Wealth buy-in. On balance, the positives — durable FRE growth, strong fundraising and product performance, and a mature accrued carry backlog — materially outweigh the near-term accounting and execution complexities.Positive Updates
Strong Fee-Related Earnings Growth
Fee-related earnings of $106 million, up 30% year-over-year; core FRE excluding retroactive fees $105 million, up 33% YoY. FRE margin remained healthy at 39% for the quarter.
Negative Updates
GAAP Net Loss Driven by Private Wealth Buy-In Accounting
Reported GAAP net loss attributable to StepStone of $116 million, or $1.41 per share, due to fair value accounting for the planned buy-in of the StepStone Private Wealth profits interest (mark-to-market effect this quarter).
Read all updates
Q1-2027 Updates
Positive
Negative
Strong Fee-Related Earnings Growth
Fee-related earnings of $106 million, up 30% year-over-year; core FRE excluding retroactive fees $105 million, up 33% YoY. FRE margin remained healthy at 39% for the quarter.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Management’s guidance emphasized continued earnings growth underpinned by strong run‑rates and specific near‑term catalysts: GAAP net loss was $116m (−$1.41/sh) this quarter but adjusted net income was $60m ($0.48/sh) vs $49m ($0.40) a year ago; fee‑related earnings (FRE) were $106m (up 30% YoY) with an FRE margin of 39% and fee revenue of $271m (up 27% YoY) on a blended management fee rate of 65 bps LTM. They said they are generating run‑rate management & advisory fees of >$1.0bn/year and run‑rate FRE well over $400m/year, reported $10bn of gross inflows this quarter and nearly $40bn of gross AUM additions over the last 12 months, and grew fee‑earning assets plus UFEC to ~ $193bn (up $9bn QoQ, $37bn YoY; 19% organic growth since FY2022) with UFEC > $39bn (≈$3bn recently activated, ≈$3bn remaining to activate). Private Wealth subscriptions were $2.8bn this quarter (platform > $21bn; SPRING $1.7bn of subs, SPRIM > $400m, SCRED > $500m to $2.8bn), platform redemptions were <2%, and SPRING’s strong YTD performance (≈23% net) should drive Private Wealth incentive fees that crystallize in fiscal Q3 (Dec). Management reiterated the planned Private Wealth profits‑interest buy‑in (call period calendar Q3 2027), which they expect will materially increase adjusted net income and be EPS‑accretive, and flagged capital plans to fund the cash portion with available cash, operating cash flow and/or debt while preserving an investment‑grade stance (A+); they also raised the quarterly dividend 18% to $0.33/sh, have executed $30m of repurchases of a $100m program ($21m since FY26 end; ~710k shares at $41.87 avg). Other operating metrics called out: net accrued carry $935m (up 19% YoY; >70% tied to programs >5 years), gross realized performance fees $30m ($16m net), adjusted cash compensation $117m (cash comp ratio ~43%), adjusted equity comp $7m, and G&A $42m (including ~$5m/quarter of Private Wealth distribution fees).StepStone Group Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
28
Negative
Balance Sheet
19
Very Negative
Cash Flow
23
Negative
| Breakdown | TTM | Mar 2026 | Mar 2025 | Mar 2024 | Mar 2023 | Mar 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 2.01B | 1.99B | 1.17B | 711.63M | -67.57M | 1.37B |
| Gross Profit | 1.22B | 1.02B | -89.47M | 381.44M | 171.60M | 576.83M |
| EBITDA | -1.02B | -883.54M | -205.23M | 252.31M | 10.18M | 540.67M |
| Net Income | -613.20M | -521.36M | -179.56M | 58.09M | -18.40M | 193.88M |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 7.77B | 6.76B | 4.59B | 3.79B | 3.50B | 4.19B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 201.17M | 1.12B | 289.30M | 181.59M | 128.56M | 116.39M |
| Total Debt | 1.57B | 1.31B | 382.79M | 268.56M | 219.57M | 133.84M |
| Total Liabilities | 6.53B | 5.88B | 2.81B | 1.92B | 1.84B | 2.36B |
| Stockholders Equity | -539.20M | -413.56M | 179.36M | 324.48M | 771.57M | 817.63M |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | -439.39M | 63.86M | 59.83M | 141.91M | 145.56M | 212.18M |
| Operating Cash Flow | -437.31M | 66.48M | 64.93M | 161.52M | 151.18M | 214.28M |
| Investing Cash Flow | 673.78M | 732.88M | -43.48M | -47.35M | -30.81M | -210.24M |
| Financing Cash Flow | 115.43M | 37.44M | 87.48M | -57.98M | -108.02M | -70.44M |
StepStone Group Technical Analysis
Positive
49.77
Price Trends
46.02
Positive
47.47
Positive
52.11
Negative
Market Momentum
1.26
Positive
56.97
Neutral
56.53
Neutral
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For STEP, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 49.77 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 49.76, above the 50-day MA of 46.02, and below the 200-day MA of 52.11, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 1.26 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 56.97 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 56.53 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for STEP.
StepStone Group Risk Analysis
StepStone Group disclosed 67 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. StepStone Group 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
StepStone Group Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (68)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
86 Outperform | $3.48B | 10.86 | 25.41% | 9.45% | ― | 0.94% | |
85 Outperform | $5.69B | 15.26 | 31.02% | 2.19% | 24.01% | 25.97% | |
80 Outperform | $9.57B | 11.56 | 26.95% | 0.01% | 11.74% | 108.91% | |
69 Neutral | $14.60B | -47.56 | -0.51% | 2.63% | 15.64% | -173.65% | |
68 Neutral | $18.00B | 11.42 | 9.92% | 3.81% | 9.73% | 1.22% | |
54 Neutral | $6.14B | -6.58 | 156.73% | 3.39% | 51.09% | -150.23% |
* Financial Sector Average
STEP
StepStone Group
50.74
-8.36
-14.14%
AMG
Affiliated Managers
360.22
127.81
54.99%
AB
AllianceBernstein
36.72
2.17
6.28%
IVZ
Invesco
32.34
10.86
50.58%
HLNE
Hamilton Lane
101.17
-45.07
-30.82%
StepStone Group Corporate Events
Executive/Board ChangesShareholder Meetings
StepStone Group Stockholders Back Board and Governance Agenda
Positive
Sep 8, 2026
On September 8, 2026, StepStone Group Inc. held its 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to vote on director elections, auditor ratification, and executive compensation matters. Stockholders representing 108,711,940 of 120,676,668 eligible votes pa...
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.