Start here if you're new
what it is
Equitable sells retirement, insurance, and wealth products, then collects fees on more than $1 trillion of client assets.
how it gets paid
Last year Equitable Hldgs made $11.7B in revenue. Individual Retirement was the main engine at $3.7B, or 32% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 6.1% last year. The 8.13% earnings beat mattered because cheap financial stocks usually need proof.
what just happened
EQH's last report beat estimates by 8.13%, even as headline numbers stayed noisy.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
75/100 earnings predictability — reasonably predictable
8.1x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
2.5% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
24.1% return on capital — every dollar works hard here
xvary composite: 54/100 — below average
What they do
Equitable sells retirement, insurance, and wealth products, then collects fees on more than $1 trillion of client assets.
The moat is distribution plus inertia. Equitable has retirement, insurance, and advisory relationships under one roof, and it managed $1.019 trillion of assets at 12/31/24. Assets under management → client money on the platform → so what: when your retirement account, annuity, and adviser already sit there, moving is a hassle and fees keep showing up.
How they make money
$11.7B
annual revenue · their business grew -6.1% last year
Individual Retirement
$3.7B
Group Retirement
$2.6B
Asset Management
$2.4B
Protection Solutions
$1.8B
Wealth Management and Legacy
$1.2B
The products that matter
retirement annuity contracts
Variable Annuities
core business · company revenue $11.7B
this sits at the center of an $11.7B revenue company. last year's 6.1% revenue decline is your reminder that annuity demand and account values do not move in a straight line.
core
retirement advisory services
Wealth Management
supports asset retention
there is no segment revenue figure here, so we won't pretend otherwise. what you do know is this business benefits when client balances rise with markets and when assets stay inside the broader EQH platform.
sticky
majority stake in an asset manager
AllianceBernstein Stake
69% stake · $860.1B AUM
equitable owns 69% of alliancebernstein, which managed $860.1B through the first nine months of 2025. that's the cleaner fee stream in the story, and it matters more when markets cooperate.
fee engine
Key numbers
$1.019T
assets managed
Assets under management → client money on the platform → so what: more assets usually mean more fees without matching balance-sheet bloat.
8.1x
trailing p/e
You are paying 8.1 times trailing earnings for a business with 19% return on equity, which is why the stock screens cheap.
24.1%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit generated from invested money → so what: EQH turns capital into earnings better than many financial firms.
$3.8B
long-term debt
Debt is 22% of capital, which is manageable but still a real constraint when markets turn ugly.
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 65 / 100
- long-term debt $3.8B (22% of capital)
- return on equity 19% — $0.19 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B++ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in EQH 3 years ago → it's now worth $16,490.
The index would have given you $14,770.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
EQH's last report beat estimates by 8.13%, even as headline numbers stayed noisy.
Consensus showed EPS of $1.73 versus a $1.60 estimate. EDGAR also showed a latest quarter with $8.4B of revenue and EPS of -$5.43, which tells you reported results can swing hard with market and accounting marks.
$8.4B
revenue
$1.73
eps
n/a
n/a
the number that mattered
The 8.13% earnings beat mattered because cheap financial stocks usually need proof, not promises, to move.
-
equitable holdings likely had a constructive 2025.
-
although both the top and bottom lines probably softened for the year as a whole, these declines largely reflect the company’s business realignment from six reportable segments to three in mid-2025.importantly, management continued to de-risk the business by reinsuring a substantial block of legacy life insurance liabilities to free up capital for growth investments.
-
we look for profit gains in the final quarter as u.s. market breadth improved.indeed, we anticipate higher investment income due to account value growth in the retirement segment and more favorable interest-rate movements. average asset balances in the wealth management segment likely increased due to market appreciation.
-
the alliance bernstein subsidiary should continue to deliver strong earnings when including the benefit of increasing equitable’s ownership from 62% to 69% last year.
-
assets under management posted a 9% gain through the first nine months of 2025, to $860.1 billion and improved fund outflows of $2.3 billion in the september quarter ($6.7 billion in the june period), led by strength in private wealth inflows.
source: company earnings report, 2026
Get this snapshot in your inbox
This page, delivered free — plus weekly updates when the numbers change. plain english, no spam.
weekly updates
earnings alerts
plain english
no spam
What could go wrong
the #1 risk is sensitivity to equity markets and annuity account values.
med
market declines hit both sides of the business
EQH sells retirement products tied to investor balances, and it also owns 69% of an asset manager overseeing $860.1B. weaker markets can pressure fee income, sentiment, and product demand at the same time.
the setup is simple: when account values fall, the cleaner fee stream gets less clean.
med
alliancebernstein still needs flow improvement
outflows improved to $2.3B in the September quarter from $6.7B in June, which is better. it is not the same as net inflows. if that trend reverses, the fee-based part of the story loses some of its appeal.
69% ownership means EQH feels more of AB's upside now — and more of its disappointments.
med
headline earnings are harder to read than they look
the company moved from six reportable segments to three in mid-2025 and continued reinsuring legacy liabilities. that may improve the business over time, but it also makes clean trend analysis harder right now.
revenue already fell 6.1% last year, so this is not a case where the numbers are giving you a free pass.
Revenue already fell 6.1% last year, and alliancebernstein still had $2.3B of outflows in the September quarter. if markets soften again, both the annuity business and the fee business can feel it at once.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
key metric
whether full-year EPS stays near $7.60
the valuation only looks obviously cheap if normalized earnings stay close to the current full-year run rate.
trend
alliancebernstein flows
outflows improved from $6.7B to $2.3B. the next step is getting from less bad to actually good.
risk
another year of shrinking revenue
last year's 6.1% decline is manageable once. repeated declines would make the low multiple look earned.
earnings
the next quarterly print
after a -$4.47 Q4 EPS result, you want cleaner evidence that the ugly quarter was noise, not the new baseline.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
below average
momentum score 4 — in human-speak, analysts think this stock is more likely to lag than lead over the next year.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — middle-of-the-road risk. not fragile, not defensive.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 — the tape is not giving you a strong signal either way.
earnings predictability
75 / 100
the business is usually reasonably forecastable, which makes that -$4.47 quarter stand out even more.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
238 buyers vs. 302 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.3B shares.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$41
$106
$47
current price
$74
target midpoint · +58% from current · 3-5yr high: $75 (+60% · 14% ann'l return)
Want the deeper analysis?
The full deep dive: dcf model, scenario analysis, competitive moat breakdown, and quarterly tracking — everything on this page, taken further.
see plans from $5/moThe deep dive