The KKR story

What drives the business

• KKR earns management fees and a share of investment gains across private equity, credit and real assets, with institutional fundraising and the timing of investment exits determining both its fee base and performance income.
• At June 2026, assets under management totaled $796 billion, including $638 billion paying fees, while $72 billion of committed capital had yet to begin paying management fees.
• Global Atlantic links insurance with asset management through its investment portfolio and fees paid to KKR, with $220 billion of assets under management and $288 million of Insurance Operating Earnings in the quarter to June 2026.
• KKR closed the Arctos Partners acquisition in May 2026, expanding into professional sports franchise stakes and capital solutions for asset managers under an agreement valued at $1.4 billion in initial consideration, with Arctos managing $20 billion at June 2026.
• KKR raised $34 billion and invested $24 billion in the quarter to June 2026, while management fees reached $4.6 billion over the last twelve months, up 25%, primarily from organic growth in fee paying assets.

What the price assumes

TenQ does not measure the growth implied by KKR's price through a reverse DCF because its finance industry classification means free cash flow may not reliably measure earnings.

At $93.24, KKR trades at 28.3x earnings, while revenue grew 31.1% over the last twelve months compared with an annual pace of 50.6% over the last three years.

TenQ's earnings yield check requires a yield above the 10-year Treasury's 5.2%, but KKR's 3.5% falls short, and its price relative to growth check lacks positive three-year earnings growth.

What could change the story

• Investment gains depend on opportunities to exit holdings, and fund agreements can require repayment of previously distributed carried interest, as occurred with Asian Fund II in the fourth quarter of 2025.
• Beginning in the quarter to June 2026, KKR moved realized performance fees from K-Series Private Equity vehicles into Fee Related Performance Revenues, so the record fee earnings measure includes performance-dependent income previously reported elsewhere.
• Capital described as perpetual can still leave through redemptions, policy withdrawals or terminated management agreements, potentially reducing both assets under management and fees.
• Liabilities were 80.6% of assets versus 78.5% five years earlier, and interest coverage of 3.39 fell below TenQ's 5.00 threshold, although insurance obligations are an important part of KKR's balance sheet.
• Shares increased 27.5% over three years, stock-based pay totaled $771 million over the last twelve months, and the Arctos agreement includes up to $550 million of additional equity tied to share price and business performance conditions.

What to watch next

• The next releases will show whether new commitments and deployment convert the $72 billion of capital not yet paying fees into management fee growth, separately from realized performance fees.
• KKR expects Strategic Holdings Operating Earnings to contribute more meaningfully to Total Operating Earnings over time, making dividends from those businesses a measure of progress.
• For Global Atlantic, investment income and insurance funding costs will show whether portfolio growth supports earnings, following net investment income of $2.0 billion and net cost of insurance of $1.5 billion in the quarter to June 2026.

Sources

• KKR's earnings release, filed with the SEC
• Its latest 10-Q or 10-K, for the risk factors
• The KKR stock report, for every figure and check