Cohen & Steers Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

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Cohen & Steers posted stronger Q2 results, with adjusted earnings per share rising to $0.85 from $0.79 in Q1 and assets under management topping $100 billion. Net income increased 18% from a year earlier, while revenue grew faster than expenses, lifting adjusted operating margin to 36.3%.

Net inflows were a major highlight, totaling $1.3 billion, one of the strongest quarters in recent history, driven mainly by open-end funds and led by U.S. real estate, preferred securities and global listed infrastructure. Management said the firm’s institutional pipeline remains healthy at $1.6 billion.

Executives expressed optimism about real estate and real assets, saying fundamentals are improving and demand is recovering across several strategies. They also pointed to growth initiatives such as the expanding ETF platform and SICAV fund business, both of which are gaining traction internationally.

Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) reported higher second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings and assets under management, as executives pointed to improving demand for real estate, infrastructure, preferred securities and broader real assets strategies.

On the company’s earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Amit Muni said Cohen & Steers generated adjusted earnings per share of $0.85, up from $0.79 in the first quarter and $0.73 in the year-earlier quarter. Net income was $44 million, rising 8% sequentially and 18% from the second quarter of last year.

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Assets under management increased about 8% to more than $100 billion, driven by positive market performance and net inflows. Muni said the firm generated $1.3 billion of net inflows, “one of the strongest flow quarters in our recent history,” while its institutional pipeline stood at $1.6 billion.

Revenue Growth Outpaces Expense Growth

Revenue increased 5% from the prior quarter to $152 million, which Muni attributed to higher average assets under management from market appreciation and net inflows. Total operating expenses rose 3% to $97 million, primarily due to higher incentive compensation accruals tied to increased revenue.

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The firm’s adjusted operating margin improved to 36.3%, reflecting operating leverage as revenue growth exceeded expense growth. Muni said Cohen & Steers is maintaining its expense guidance, including compensation and benefits expenses of about 40% of revenue, mid-single-digit growth in general and administrative expenses compared with 2025 and a pro forma effective tax rate of 25% to 26%.

The company ended the quarter with $219 million of cash and U.S. Treasuries on its balance sheet, along with about $136 million of liquid seed investments across its funds. Muni said that liquidity gives the firm “substantial financial flexibility” to support capital management priorities and strategic growth initiatives.

Open-End Funds Drive Inflows

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Muni said net inflows were primarily driven by the firm’s open-end funds, including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and SICAVs. In the advisory business, the company experienced modest outflows mainly related to institutional client rebalancing. The sub-advisory business generated slight net inflows, as more than $500 million of new mandates were partly offset by redemptions.

By strategy, U.S. real estate was the largest contributor to flows, complemented by demand for preferred securities and global listed infrastructure strategies.

Chief Executive Officer Joseph Harvey said the quarter reflected continued “broad positive business momentum,” with the $1.3 billion in net inflows representing the highest level in four and a half years. It was also the seventh quarter of inflows in the past eight quarters.

Harvey said that, with the exception of global real estate, every strategy recorded net inflows during the quarter. U.S. real estate led with $833 million in net inflows. The firm’s multi-strategy real assets portfolio generated $380 million in net inflows, bringing strategy-wide assets to $3 billion, which Harvey said represents a 29% compound annual growth rate since 2021.

Global listed infrastructure recorded its sixth straight quarter of inflows and is active in the institutional channel, Harvey said. Preferred securities, the firm’s second-largest strategy by AUM, posted a second consecutive quarter of inflows. Preferreds AUM stood at $18 billion, compared with a prior peak of $27 billion.

Investment Performance Mixed Over One Year, Stronger Longer Term

President and Chief Investment Officer Jon Cheigh said 41%, 91% and 97% of the firm’s AUM outperformed over the one-, three- and five-year periods, respectively. Cheigh said the one-year result was an “outlier” caused solely by U.S. REIT relative performance, while other strategies, including international real estate, continued to outperform.

Within U.S. REITs, Cheigh said most short-term underperformance was driven by positioning in cell tower REITs, which have been affected by slower carrier spending following the initial 5G build-out and concerns that satellites could displace towers. He said the firm expects a return to its historical norm of 200 basis points of alpha in U.S. REITs going forward.

Cheigh also highlighted global listed infrastructure performance, saying that team outperformed by 370 basis points over the last year. He said infrastructure remains a growing area of investor interest.

Cheigh said U.S.-listed real estate returned 10.7% during the quarter and was up 14.9% year to date, while global real estate was up 9.6% for the year. Infrastructure returned 2.3% in the quarter and 10.7% year to date. Diversified real assets, despite a softer second quarter due to declines in energy prices and precious metals, were up 9.9% through the first half of the year, ahead of what Cheigh described as a roughly 6% return for a 60/40 portfolio.

Executives See Recovery in Real Estate and Real Assets

Cheigh said the firm believes the real estate recovery remains underappreciated. He said property fundamentals are improving across sectors, with particular strength in senior housing and data centers. He also cited return-to-office trends in New York and San Francisco, strong retail performance after limited new supply over the past decade, recovering industrial demand and the absorption of excess residential supply.

Cheigh said U.S. and global REITs have delivered annualized returns of 10.1% and 10.7%, respectively, over the past three years. He said the firm believes double-digit returns are a sustainable forward outlook for its listed real estate strategies, even with interest rates at current or modestly higher levels.

Private real estate values have stabilized after a prolonged correction, Cheigh said, and transaction activity continues to recover. He said the NFI-ODCE Index has delivered seven consecutive quarters of positive total returns through the first quarter and appears on track for an eighth.

Cheigh also noted that Cohen & Steers Income Opportunities REIT, the firm’s non-traded REIT, has generated a 12.3% annualized total return since its 2024 inception through May, which he called industry-leading performance.

Growth Initiatives Gain Traction

Harvey said the firm’s active ETF platform surpassed $1 billion in AUM. Its largest ETF is its real estate strategy, with $450 million in AUM. Harvey said the company expects to launch its seventh ETF by the fall, a version of its multi-strategy real assets portfolio.

The company’s SICAV fund platform reached $2 billion in AUM, with record net inflows of $326 million during the quarter. Harvey said inflows were led by multi-strategy real assets and global listed infrastructure, with international traction in markets including the United Kingdom, Japan and South Africa.

Harvey said the company’s unfunded institutional pipeline remained broad by strategy and geography. The $1.6 billion pipeline included allocations to global listed infrastructure, TREF, U.S. real estate, global real estate, multi-strategy real assets and private real estate, with domiciles across 11 countries.

During the question-and-answer session, Harvey said demand for U.S. real estate strategies is improving in both wealth management and institutional channels, aided by recent REIT performance and stronger fundamentals. He also said the company sees opportunities in global sub-advisory, including in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, while noting that Japan has been more challenging recently due to local macro conditions and investor appetite for equities.

Harvey closed the call by welcoming Muni as CFO and thanking Mike Donohue for serving as interim CFO during the transition.

About Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS)

Cohen & Steers, Inc is a publicly traded investment management firm specializing in real estate securities and alternative income strategies. Founded in 1986 by Martin Cohen and Robert Steers, the company has built a reputation for expertise in listed real estate investment trusts (REITs) and related equities. Headquartered in New York City, Cohen & Steers applies a research-driven approach to identify value and income opportunities across global property markets.

The firm offers a diverse range of investment products, including mutual funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

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