Principal Financial Group reported a strong Q2 2026, with EPS up 17% year-over-year driven by favorable underwriting and robust retirement fundamentals, though asset management faced net outflows. Management reiterated full-year targets and detailed the digital-first Beam acquisition to bolster SMB offerings. EPS of $2.45 beat the prior year by 16%, with underlying trends strong.
Principal Financial Group reported a strong Q2 2026, with EPS up 17% year-over-year driven by favorable underwriting and robust retirement fundamentals, though asset management faced net outflows. Management reiterated full-year targets and detailed the digital-first Beam acquisition to bolster SMB offerings. EPS of $2.45 beat the prior year by 16%, with underlying trends strong.
Principal Financial Group reported a strong Q2 2026, with EPS up 17% year-over-year driven by favorable underwriting and robust retirement fundamentals, though asset management faced net outflows. Management reiterated full-year targets and detailed the digital-first Beam…
EPS of $2.45 beat the prior year by 16%, with underlying trends strong.
Specialty benefits loss ratio improved sharply to 57.4%, boosting margins.
Retirement transfer deposits were up 30%, with strong momentum in the SMB segment.
Management expresses confidence in hitting a high-end EPS target driven by strong underwriting results, stable fee business trends, and diversification benefits; implies sustained optimism for the remainder of 2026.
Management expresses confidence in strong earnings growth, strategic execution, and a healthy capital position, while acknowledging headwinds in asset management flows.
“Private markets assets under management increased 10% year over year, while international pension assets under management increased 18%.”
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capex | FY2026 | $1.5B–$1.8Binline vs consensus | $1.65B | MAINTAINED |
Institutional pipeline/build-out is strong, but net flows will be challenged by market conditions. — Strong future committed inflows indicate near-term organic growth in fee-earning AUM despite current outflows, reflecting potential share gains against peers.
Hey, thanks. Good morning. I guess I'll shift to investment management. You talked about the drivers of the outflows in the quarter, but I was hoping to get a little bit more color on what you're seeing and thinking for the back half of the year and, you know, if you believe the elevated equity outflows are more isolated to the quarter or if there could be some ongoing headwinds there.
Sure. Good morning, Ryan. So since you asked about the outflows, let me address that directly because it was a meaningful number this quarter. The first most important point is that the impact is concentrated with a couple of US active equity strategies. Those strategies make up slightly more than 5% of our firm AUM. So it's not broad based across global asset management. Few additional points to help you further with your question. This cohort of strategies is deeply affected by the acute and unusual market that has neither rewarded high quality companies or valuation aware stock picking. I would note for you that these strategies have a very good long term track record of strong results, and they particularly outperform in normal return markets. So based on historical cycles, it would expect this type of environment to normalize over time. but it is very difficult to predict the timing of market turns. To your question on this quarter, growth sales in 2Q were also impacted by conflict in Middle East as many institutional investors delayed mandates and engagements due to headlines and market volatility. So with respect to rest of the year, we do anticipate net flows to be somewhat challenged, but I am cautiously optimistic. And one data point I would leave you on that is that our committed, not funded pipeline has now grown to around $10 billion this quarter. That is up from 1Q, which is a testament to the diversity of our capabilities and our channel reach.
Private markets sales continue to show strength with 10% year-on-year AUM growth. — Indicates sustained investor appetite for alternatives and international pension strategies, supporting fee margins in an asset management industry facing fee pressure.
… the underlying momentum across the broader asset management platform, particularly in areas designed to support long-term client needs, including private markets, international and institutional solutions. Moving to key highlights, investment management growth sales increased 2% year-over-year and 13% on a trailing 12-month basis, supported by client demand for our investment capabilities and the strength of our distribution relationships. Private markets assets under management increased 10% year over year, while international pension assets under management increased 18%. Our active ETF business continues to see healthy growth, generating $500 million of net inflows in the quarter and $2 billion over the trailing 12 months. During the quarter, we expanded our ETF capabilities with the launch of a new fixed income ETF suite, broadening access to our investment expertise and providing clients with more flexible investment solutions aligned to their evolving portfolio needs. Looking across these three growth drivers, I'm proud of our year-to-date results and our ability to execute. Before I hand it over to Joel, I have a couple of updates related to our business portfolio. …