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DigitalBridge Group (NYSE:DBRG) sank 7.1% in Tuesday morning trading after its Q4 2023 earnings fell short of the average analyst estimate. It’s the first quarter in which the company deconsolidated its operating segment. In addition, guidance for its year-end fee-earning equity under management also disappointed.
The asset manager that invests in digital infrastructure expects 2024 ending fee-earning equity under management to increase to $36B-$38B from $33B at year-end 2023, less than the Visible Alpha consensus of $40.8B.
Fee revenue is projected to rise to $335M-$360M from $264M in 2023, compared with the $339.8M Visible Alpha consensus.
Fee-related earnings/adjusted EBITDA is expected to climb to $150M-$165M from $104M in 2023.
DigitalBridge (DBRG) said it has aligned its guidance practices with those of its alternative asset manager peers
Q4 distributable EPS of $0.10, missing the Bloomberg consensus estimate of $0.12, declined from $0.20 in Q3 and improved from -$0.13 in Q4 2022.
“We had a strong finish to 2023 with the best quarter in investment management fees and fee-related earnings since we assumed leadership at DigitalBridge,” said CEO Marc Ganzi.
Since January 2023, the company has raised more than $7.7B in new fee-earnings equity, it said. Since its last earnings presentation, it has raised $2.3B, including $0.8B year-to-date.
Q4 consolidated revenue of $350.3M, topping the $309.9M Visible Alpha estimate, fell from $477.1M in Q3 and increased from $271.0M in Q4 2022.
Fee revenue of $74.0M climbed from $65.2M in the previous quarter and $44.3M a year ago.
Investment management fee-related earnings of $39.8M grew from $29.2M in Q3 and $24.2M in Q4 2022. IM segment distributable earnings of $39.1M declined from $53.3M in Q3 and increased from $29.8M in Q4 2022.
