CluenexAres Management ARES
Ares Management scores average on business quality (6.0 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Ares Management does
Ares Management builds alternative asset portfolios, collecting management and performance fees from institutional investors across credit, private equity, and real estate.
- What it does best
Ares scales alternative credit better than most, driving a top-decile revenue growth rate of 44.2%. This speed outpaces KKR's revenue drop of 10.9%, leveraging deep institutional relationships that take decades to build.
- The main risk
High leverage remains a primary vulnerability, carrying a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.2. With interest coverage sitting tight at 1.6x, tighter credit markets threaten debt servicing capacity.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin sits at 19.7% while return on equity reaches 15.2%. Profitability is stable but constrained by high debt servicing costs eating into net income of $487 million.
The firm's moat rests on institutional scale, though it ranks in the 32nd percentile for FCF margin. High switching costs for pension funds lock in capital, but narrow margins limit durability.
Revenue growth surges at 44.2% over the trailing period, hitting $6.0 billion. This marks a sharp acceleration from historical levels as alternative asset demand expands.
Net debt stands at $12.1 billion against $1.4 billion in cash. Free cash flow dropped to $836 million from $3.2 billion previously, showing a softer liquidity profile.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on ARES
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Ares Management scores average on the Cluenex quality check (6.0 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is fair, moat weak, growth fast and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 29, 2026, before the open.
See ARES today
- Today's verdict on ARES, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Ares Management (ARES)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/ares/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.