PJT Partners Inc Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Congratulations on 10 years.

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : Yes, absolutely. So I want to start, Paul, on the restructuring outlook and appreciate the framing that you gave and still sounds like you expect a strong kind of backdrop there. We've been hearing somewhat mixed trends, I would say, through earnings. And so, I just want to get a sense of how you're thinking about PJT specific relative to the broader macro backdrop for trends because you guys have a leading practice and so potentially outperform the industry in different environments. So do you still see the environment being very good? Or is this more just about PJT maintaining or even gaining share as your kind of always going to be active in that business?

Question: Devin Ryan - Citizens JMP Securities LLC - Analyst : I appreciate all that color, Paul. And then just for my follow-up, when I look at partner productivity, I appreciate it's kind of a crude number from the outside. But on a blended basis, it looks like you're on track for a record year productivity on my numbers at least. And I appreciate some of that's very strong restructuring and then you have strategic advisory ramping pretty materially as those partners on the platform mature. So I'd love to just get an update on how you think about the productivity potential of partners from here, particularly as strategic advisory still feels like the environment is getting better, but then also the bankers on the platform are maturing as they've been doing. And I guess in that question, just love to hear about how you think about what is a reasonable number of kind of revenue per partner for strategic advisory when you're hiring REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 04, 2025 / 1:30PM, PJT.N - Q3 2025 PJT Partners Inc Earnings Call somebody externally? Are you targeting $15 million to $20 million? Or is there a number? Just any more color you can give on how you're thinking about the potential from here given that you're going to have it looks like a record year there.

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : Paul, I'd love to just get your perspective on the impact of the government shutdown on the business. Do you expect this to have an impact on the fourth quarter? But really more importantly, how are you thinking about the impact going forward? Is there anything beyond the temporary impact?

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : That's super clear. Just maybe turning to the primary fundraising business. I'd love to just get your perspective on the ability for that to continue to improve. Obviously, it was down for a couple of years there, and you've seen a nice bounce back there over the past few quarters. So is this sustainable? And how are you thinking about the outlook for that business? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 04, 2025 / 1:30PM, PJT.N - Q3 2025 PJT Partners Inc Earnings Call

Question: Brennan Hawken - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : I was hoping that you could -- I know, Paul, I heard you sort of loud and clear that the 67.5% is your expectation for the full year. But taking a step back, what's the best way we should be thinking about operating leverage, right, and the path for pretax margin as you continue to see this strong revenue growth as you see the -- as the investments that you've made in strategic advisory begin to bear fruit. How should we be thinking about that either in the year-end and then, of course, into the coming years?

Question: Brennan Hawken - Bank of Montreal - Analyst : And then when you think about the operating margin improvement that you guys are likely to generate here in 2025, is that a good way to be thinking about a path forward sort of you never want to anchor overly on one particular year, obviously, because things will move around. But is that a decent way to be thinking about it going forward? Or are there other factors -- what other factors should we consider?

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : To start, I just wanted to touch on the dynamic you flagged, which is the divergence of deal value versus deal count, which is something we've been keeping an eye on ourselves. The drivers of the increase in the larger activity is apparent around derive and things of that nature. But I just wanted to get a sense as to what you think is behind the lack of breadth and activity so far and what could maybe drive an improvement in that dynamic over the next coming year?

Question: Brendan O'Brien - Wolfe Research LLC - Analyst : That's helpful color. And for my follow-up, I just wanted to unpack your commentary on the Park Hill business a bit. You noted in your prepared remarks that Park Hill revenues were down year-on-year so far this year and PCS revenues were up, but the placement line was also up. So I just wanted to -- if you could just unpack that piece a bit more, whether there's some non-Park Hill fees in that placement line. And then also last quarter, you noted that you expect a significant acceleration in PCS fees in the second half. Based on the commentary, it doesn't seem like that came through in 3Q. So I just wanted to get an update here. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 04, 2025 / 1:30PM, PJT.N - Q3 2025 PJT Partners Inc Earnings Call

Question: James Yaro - Goldman Sachs Group Inc - Analyst : I just wanted to ask a nitty-gritty one. Any, I guess, pull forward in the quarter that we should be aware of?