CluenexFranklin Templeton Investments BEN
Franklin Templeton Investments scores weak on business quality (2.0 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Franklin Templeton Investments does
Franklin Resources collects management fees by running mutual funds and institutional portfolios for global investors. Revenue depends on asset values.
- What it does best
Franklin excels at global retail distribution across traditional asset classes, backed by $9.3B in revenue. This footprint spans multiple geographies, though its operating margin of 14% lags peers like T. Rowe Price at 34%, showing scale doesn't automatically yield higher margins.
- The main risk
Persistent net outflows across traditional active equity strategies threaten fee-based revenue. If institutional and retail clients keep migrating capital to passive index funds, management fees will continue to compress margins.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin sits at 14% with an ROE of 6.8%, putting profitability near the bottom quartile of the financial sector. Margins face ongoing compression as assets shift toward lower-fee passive products.
Franklin holds virtually no structural economic moat, ranking in the bottom decile for gross margin at 36%. Without proprietary switching costs or exclusive IP, clients easily pull funds when performance lags.
Revenue grew 3.5% to $9.3B, marking a modest recovery from historical stagnation. This growth rate remains near the bottom quartile of its sector, trailing aggressive alternative managers significantly.
Total debt sits at $12.3B against $3.6B in cash, creating a net debt load of $8.7B. Interest coverage of 15x cushions debt costs, but free cash flow dropped to $232M, leaving dividend and buyback payments heavily reliant on balance-sheet flexibility.
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 BEN
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
Franklin Templeton Investments scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (2.0 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat weak, growth slow and financial health weak.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Nov 6, 2026, after the close.
See BEN today
- Today's verdict on BEN, 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, “Franklin Templeton Investments (BEN)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/ben/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.