T. Rowe reports strong 2020 results despite pandemic’s toll

As T. Rowe Price Group continues to grow, reporting end-of-year figures that largely surpass the company’s 2019 numbers despite the challenges of the pandemic, President and CEO William J. Stromberg is eager to get his employees back into the office — but also sees a future for remote work at T. Rowe. 

“I think with the passage of time, many of us are craving the camaraderie and the relationships that come with being together on a regular basis,” Stromberg said. 

However, he added, remote work has certainly “proven successful” for the Baltimore-based asset manager, which ended the year with $1.47 trillion in assets under management, up 21.9% from last year. Net revenues earned were $1.7 billion for the quarter and $6.2 billion for the year, both improvements over 2019’s numbers; however, net client inflows were down from 2019, at $2.2 billion for the quarter and $5.6 billion for the year as compared to $2.8 billion and $13.2 billion, respectively, last year.

Because working from home over the past 10 months has shown the benefits of incorporating some flexibility into the workweek, business units across T. Rowe are now considering permanently allowing their employees some level of flexibility with regard to remote work.

“It’s up to the leadership in those individual areas to determine how much additional flexibility,” Stromberg said. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if an additional day of flexibility were incorporated into our work life.”

T. Rowe’s growth can be attributed in large part to its employees’ dedication to providing exemplary service to their clients even in a remote setting. But the strong market trends that have persisted since the summer, boosted by the federal economic relief package, are also to thank, with Stromberg labeling last spring’s broad economic downtown “the shortest recession we’ve had.”

“Government support programs have allowed the economy to continue to move along and allowed some level of growth in some sectors to happen. As long as the new administration remains committed to providing the support programs that they have and (seeing) us through this, I think we’ll be in good shape,” he said, adding that he is hopeful that Congress will be able to find a compromise on President Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus. 

Even in an overall strong global market, T. Rowe’s adjusted non-GAAP diluted earnings per common share still managed to surpass estimates, rising to $2.89 this quarter, 7.84% higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.68 and a 42.4% increase from $2.03 in Q4 last year. The yearly earnings per common share rose from $8.07 in 2019 to $9.58, an 18.7% increase.

Stromberg is optimistic about the prospects of the COVID-19 vaccines, despite a slow start to their distribution across the United States. He anticipates that the addition of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine and others that are coming to the ends of their clinical trials will help to speed up distribution, as will local governments improving their processes based on what they’ve learned in the first month of distribution.

“The stimulus is there to help us bridge the gap until the vaccines can do their magic,” Stromberg said. “Particularly with the new strains of virus that are out there, it is critical that we get these vaccines moving quicker and not allow these new strains to get a foothold.”