Lazard Inc Q3 2024 Earnings Call Summary

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research, LLC - Analyst : Good morning and thank. You for taking my question. I guess for my question. I just wanted to drop it, (technical difficulty) below 60%.

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research, LLC - Analyst : Can you hear me now?

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research, LLC - Analyst : Okay, sorry about that. So I just want to drill down on the comp ratio commentary a bit. It was encouraging to hear the commitment to getting (technical difficulty) but I just wanted to understand what type of revenue growth is needed to get there to be continuing at this point (inaudible) a year on year growth rate that you see year-to-date or is there like a productivity have we need to be looking at, yeah any (inaudible) you can provide, there would be helpful.

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research, LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks for taking my questions and apologies for the phone issues.

Question: Brennan Hawken - UBS - Analyst : Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Hey, how are you Peter? So love to follow up on that. So really get you on the revenue side and what you're thinking about plus the recruiting side for that 60%. Is there anything that you guys are considering doing on the expense side to provide you with greater flexibility to deliver that kind of magnitude of comp leverage 600 basis points is rather substantial in a year. So we have you guys been looking at maybe accelerating some of the deferred, or making any other changes to drive greater flex?

Question: Ryan Kenny - Morgan Stanley - Analyst : Hi, good morning. So on the asset management business, it came up that interest in emerging market equities is growing. Can you give us some color on what's driving that is that purely a function of rate cuts in the weaker dollar? Is it sustainable? Any color that would be helpful? Thanks.

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Good morning and thanks for taking my question. I think we've started to see a bit of a divergence in macro trends across the US and Europe. How is this weighing on the M&A environment in Europe relative to the US.

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Very clear. Thank you so much. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 31, 2024 / 12:00PM, LAZ.N - Q3 2024 Lazard Inc Earnings Call

Question: Devin Ryan - JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Hey, good morning, Peter, Marie Ann, and Evan, how are you?

Question: Devin Ryan - JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : So question just on advisory and really kind of think the potential. So, the first nine months, obviously your second best ever for advisory, you seem to be outperforming a number of firms we track just when we look at kind of where you are in your recovery,

Question: Devin Ryan - JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Yeah. All right. Very clear. Thanks.

Question: Mike Brown - Wells Fargo Securities - Analyst : Hey, good morning, everyone. I had to ask a question about the ownership [base] here. So earlier this year you converted from a publicly traded partnership to C Corp, now we're 10 months in. So I just would be interested to hear how that, conversion has gone compared relative to your expectations and in terms of investor interest, engagement and overall the ownership base and then how could it evolve from here? What are some of the index implications that could actually continue to help that ownership base evolve from here? Thank you.

Question: Mike Brown - Wells Fargo Securities - Analyst : Okay, great. Thank you for all the color here.

Question: Brennan Hawken - UBS - Analyst : Hello again. Thanks for taking my follow up. Just one more question on the sub 60%, Peter and thanks in advance for your patience. But could you maybe you gave a lot of color on the advisory (inaudible) could you -- maybe what are the baseline assumptions on the asset management side of the business for revenue?

Question: Brennan Hawken - UBS - Analyst : Great. And then, and then you guys, there was a, there was a large lumpy outflow during the quarter. But my sense is that it was a bit lower fee rate, could you maybe help us walk through some of the fee rate impact from that and what we should be expecting for the next quarter because it (inaudible)

Question: Brennan Hawken - UBS - Analyst : Great, thanks for taking my follow up. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 31, 2024 / 12:00PM, LAZ.N - Q3 2024 Lazard Inc Earnings Call

Question: Aidan Hall - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst : Great. Thanks for taking my question everyone. Just for Mary Ann, I heard your comments about the expectation to potentially based on the environment, take care of maybe some more deferred comp in the fourth quarter. But just curious how you're thinking about -- how we should be thinking about the comp ratio. Like is there a chance that that actually ticks up in 4Q as you opportunistically take care of some of that? Or do you think given the expectations for the revenue environment, you could make progress there while holding the comp ratio any color, how to be thinking about that.

Question: Aidan Hall - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst : Appreciate that. Maybe just a quick one for Evan. Here a lot of the optimism around the asset management business last day of the month, any kind of color on how organic growth trends have fared so far and any visibility through kind of the through year end.

Question: Aidan Hall - Keefe, Bruyette & Woods - Analyst : Appreciate the color. Thanks for taking my questions. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 31, 2024 / 12:00PM, LAZ.N - Q3 2024 Lazard Inc Earnings Call

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Well, thanks for taking the follow up. Just quickly on the non-comps. I think your non-comp system is quite strong in the quarter, maybe you just speak to the non-comp growth trajectory from here. Anything that we should read into the lower non-comp level? Did you find perhaps some additional non-comp cost saves versus previous expectations?

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Thank you so much.

Question: Devin Ryan - JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Thanks a lot. Just a philosophical question on asset management, given some of the headwinds in that industry more broadly. So obviously, with that people are very focused on incremental investment and returns on investment that are being made and you guys spoke about some newer areas of focus, obviously actively manage EPS and some others. And so I appreciate that there's a level of scale that's necessary before new businesses start contributing positively. And so I just want to think about kind of how you guys are framing the need to grow and perhaps invest in the long term without diluting current earnings power in either that segment or just from one. Thanks.

Question: Devin Ryan - JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks so much.