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Carlyle Group (The) CG

Carlyle Group (The) scores weak on business quality (2.3 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$38.42Oct 10, 2026
Business qualityWeak
Next earningsNov 5, 2026, before the open
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What Carlyle Group (The) does

    Carlyle Group earns management and performance fees by investing capital globally across private equity, credit, and investment solutions on behalf of institutional clients.

  2. What it does best

    Carlyle extracts strong gross margins at 76.1%, outperforming peers like Franklin Resources at 36.1% due to specialized fee structures that capture high-margin management revenue from committed institutional capital.

  3. The main risk

    Net debt has climbed to $10.2B alongside persistent negative free cash flow of -$4.1B, exposing the balance sheet to severe strain if asset realizations slow down further.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityWeak

Operating margin reaches 18.2% with an FCF margin of -114.1%, showing that high gross margins are eroded by cash burn as the business scales.

MoatWeak

The firm relies on institutional client lock-in across multi-year fund commitments, though a low ROE of 6.6% limits the broader economic moat.

GrowthSlow

Revenue fell 11.9% to $3.6B, ranking in the bottom decile of its sector at the 2nd percentile for growth as deal activity contracts.

Financial healthWeak

Debt-to-equity sits high at 2.3x while free cash flow remains heavily negative at -$4.1B, pointing to a weakening cash position.

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.

1 sold $17.1M outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on CG

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

Is CG a good business?

Carlyle Group (The) scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (2.3 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat weak, growth slow and financial health weak.

Are insiders buying CG?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 sold $17.1M outside pre-planned sales.

When does CG report earnings?

Nov 5, 2026, before the open.

For members

See CG today

  • Today's verdict on CG, 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
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Cite this page: Cluenex, “Carlyle Group (The) (CG)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/cg/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.