Asset management firm Artisan Partners (NYSE: APAM) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 13% year on year to $335.5 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.26 per share was 15.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Founded in 1994 with a focus on autonomous investment teams and a "high-value-added" approach, Artisan Partners (NYSE: APAM) is an investment management firm that offers actively managed equity and fixed income strategies to institutional and individual investors.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Regrettably, Artisan Partners’s revenue grew at a tepid 5.9% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This was below our standard for the financials sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. Artisan Partners’s annualized revenue growth of 10.8% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting some bright spots. Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.

This quarter, Artisan Partners reported year-on-year revenue growth of 13%, and its $335.5 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3.7%.

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Assets Under Management (AUM)

Assets Under Management (AUM) encompasses all client funds under a firm's investment management umbrella. The recurring fee structure on these assets provides consistent revenue generation, offering financial stability even during periods of poor investment returns, though sustained underperformance can impact future asset flows.

Artisan Partners’s AUM has grown at an annual rate of 6.6% over the last five years, slightly worse than the broader financials industry but faster than its total revenue. When analyzing Artisan Partners’s AUM over the last two years, we can see that growth accelerated to 11% annually. This performance aligned with its total revenue.

Artisan Partners’s AUM punched in at $180.9 billion this quarter, falling 1.5% short of analysts’ expectations. This print was 12.2% higher than the same quarter last year.

Key Takeaways from Artisan Partners’s Q4 Results

It was good to see Artisan Partners beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its AUM slightly missed. Zooming out, we think this was a good print with some key areas of upside. The stock traded up 3.9% to $46.26 immediately after reporting.

Indeed, Artisan Partners had a rock-solid quarterly earnings result, but is this stock a good investment here? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).