Private equity firm Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 14.2% year on year to $1.12 billion. Its GAAP profit of $0.37 per share decreased from $0.91 in the same quarter last year.

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Company Overview

Founded in 1987 with just $5 million in capital and named after the iconic New York hotel where the founders first met, The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm that raises, manages, and deploys capital across private equity, credit, and investment solutions.

Revenue Growth

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Unfortunately, Carlyle’s 7.1% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was mediocre. This fell short of our benchmark for the financials sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. Carlyle’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 3.7% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs. Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers because they were impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.

This quarter, Carlyle reported year-on-year revenue growth of 14.2%, and its $1.12 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 21.9%.

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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.

Carlyle’s AUM has grown at an annual rate of 13.6% over the last five years, a step above the broader financials industry and faster than its total revenue. When analyzing Carlyle’s AUM over the last two years, we can see that growth decelerated to 7% annually. Fundraising or short-term investment performance was a net contributor for the company over this shorter period since assets grew faster than total revenue. That said, assets aren’t the be-all and end-all due to their unpredictable and cyclical nature.

Carlyle’s AUM punched in at $485 billion this quarter, beating analysts’ expectations by 1%. This print was 4.4% higher than the same quarter last year.

Key Takeaways from Carlyle’s Q2 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Carlyle blew past analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its AUM narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Zooming out, we think this quarter featured some important positives. The stock traded up 3.6% to $52.45 immediately after reporting.

Sure, Carlyle had a solid quarter, but if we look at the bigger picture, is this stock a buy? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).