CluenexLazard LAZ
Lazard scores good on business quality (6.8 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Lazard does
Lazard generates revenue by advising corporations and governments on mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring, while also managing assets for institutional and wealth clients. Management is currently leaning into strategic targets like its 2030 revenue goal, hoping asset management growth will offset volatile deal volumes.
- What it does best
Lazard protects elite advisory relationships through centuries of reputation, driving a gross margin of 93.1% that sits in the top decile of its sector at the 90th percentile. This intellectual capital and institutional trust cannot be easily replicated by software or upstart advisory boutiques.
- The main risk
Sluggish deal flow threatens the advisory segment that anchors top-line revenue. If macro conditions keep M&A volumes depressed, the firm lacks the steady transactional engine needed to hit its ambitious long-term targets.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margins sit at an anemic 11.4%, placing the firm in the bottom quartile of its sector despite high gross margins, dragged down by heavy compensation and fixed overhead.
The firm's advisory brand locks in corporate boards and sovereign clients through deep, decades-long trusted relationships, ranking in the 90th sector percentile for gross margins.
Revenue grew 5.3% to $3.3B, recovering from prior dips but remaining well below historical peaks, showing a slow crawl upward rather than a dynamic expansion engine.
Lazard holds $1.6B in cash against $2.1B in total debt, while generating $658M in free cash flow that easily funds its $191M dividend and $103M buybacks.
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 LAZ
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
Lazard scores good on the Cluenex quality check (6.8 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is fair, moat strong, growth slow and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 21, 2026, before the open.
See LAZ today
- Today's verdict on LAZ, 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, “Lazard (LAZ)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/laz/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.