08:30 AM EDT, 05/04/2026 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We see share price weakness as a buying opportunity, as ARES has a formidable business across private credit, real assets, and private equity markets. We think public equity market worries about whether firms like ARES can continue to deliver high returns from their investment funds is misunderstood. Thus, we maintain our $160 target using a forward P/E of 26.2x compared to the three-year historical average at 30.0x and the five-year at 27.0x. We lower our 2026 EPS by $0.30 to $6.10 and 2027's by $0.40 to $7.40, our prior estimates were well above the consensus. With regard to public concerns about the potential negative impact of AI on software companies, ARES states only 5%-6% of total AUM is software-related and digital infrastructure is only 2%, not material. Default risk is claimed to be less than 1%. Dividend yield is 4.6%, supported by growing businesses with strong inflows and total AUM growth. We think the Iran-U.S. war does pose a risk to monetization of private equity holdings in funds.