TROW · Q1 2026 Earnings

Outflow framing pivoted to "making progress." Q1's prepared commentary characterizes flows as stabilizing, with Sharps noting teams are "advancing innovative strategies, new vehicles, and compelling solutions." Management's "stabilization" language is doing heavy work — $13.7B remains a substantial outflow, and the run rate would still imply roughly $55B of annualized attrition. The shift to claiming progress ahead of evidence that flows have stabilized at a materially better level is the tonal pivot worth tracking.

Goldman Sachs partnership framed as "momentum building." Sharps: "Our collaboration with Goldman Sachs is progressing with momentum building in model portfolios and product development advancing for the launch of an interval fund and target date sister series later this year." August added that co-branded target date strategies, model portfolios, and multi-asset offerings incorporating private investments are in development, "several of which are expected to launch in mid-26."

Credit market deterioration recast as opportunity through OHA's Glenn August. August was brought onto the prepared remarks to directly reframe the credit backdrop. He attributed recent volatility to a confluence of factors: "cockroach risks" from H2 2025 frauds, rapid AI advancements raising disruption concerns "most acute in the syndicated and private loan markets," and "The Iran war introduced yet another driver of uncertainty and geopolitical risks. The war has disrupted global trade, upended energy supplies, and caused a massive spike in energy prices." His conclusion: "the challenges in the credit markets, including AI risk, are idiosyncratic, not systemic." Sharps' own opening framed the March market decline as a response "to the conflict with Iran, which pushed energy prices sharply higher." OHA is being positioned as a defensive fortress within a disrupted sector, with >$30B of dry powder and the firm noting it is well positioned "to be front-footed and opportunistic in deploying capital in an environment where spreads have widened, liquidity premiums have increased, and documentation and terms are more favorable for lenders."

Institutional-retail divergence acknowledged in prepared remarks. August: "Institutional clients have a longer time horizon and they are viewing the current environment as an opportunity to lean in. Meanwhile, individual investors have shown to be highly sentiment driven and more reactive to negative headlines." He flagged that non-traded BDC redemption requests have "increased meaningfully across the industry with many vehicles receiving requests in excess of the 5% quarterly limit," while noting OCredit had Q1 redemptions well below the 5% limit and generated positive net flows.

European ETF expansion introduced without financial framing. New disclosure: T. Rowe is "developing plans to launch our first ETFs in Europe." No AUM target, no launch date, no partnership structure disclosed.