Fundamentals snapshot
EQH · NYQ · Financial Services · Asset Management
Current price
$53.88
52-week range
$35.20 - $55.15
Market cap
$14.70B
One-glance verdict
We don't put a cash-flow fair value on banks and insurers. For these companies the reported 'cash flow' is really just money moving between loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually pocket — so the usual method would print a misleading number.
Balance sheet
Net cash $11.96B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
What this company does
Equitable Holdings is a financial services company that helps people and organizations plan for retirement and manage their money through products like insurance and investment accounts. The company primarily earns revenue by collecting regular payments (called premiums) on insurance policies and charging fees for managing their clients' investments. This means the company's health often reflects how much individuals and businesses are saving for the long term.
Equitable has been around since 1859, starting as The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. For a long time, it operated as a mutual company, meaning it was owned by its policyholders. In the early 1990s, facing financial pressures, it was acquired by the French insurance giant AXA and eventually became known as AXA Equitable. After a couple of decades, AXA decided to spin off its U.S. operations, and in 2018 the company went public on the stock market. By 2020, it had fully separated from AXA and rebranded back to its roots as Equitable Holdings, Inc.
Equitable is a financial services company that helps people and businesses manage their money for the future. Think of them as a provider of financial tools for long-term goals like retirement and for protecting families financially. They offer products that help you save and invest for retirement, provide income once you've stopped working, and offer life insurance to take care of your loved ones. They also manage large pools of money for big institutions and provide financial planning advice to individuals through their network of financial professionals.
This is one of the company's largest businesses, focused on helping individuals save for their later years. They primarily sell products called annuities (a contract with an insurance company that provides you with regular payments in retirement). Their main customers are people nearing retirement who want to grow their savings while protecting themselves from stock market downturns. For a fee, Equitable provides these individuals with investment options that can grow over time and offer a guaranteed stream of income after they retire.
This division works with employers and organizations to offer retirement savings plans to their employees. They are a major provider of 403(b) plans, which are like 401(k)s but for people who work in public schools, non-profits, and municipalities. The employer chooses Equitable to manage the retirement plan, and then employees contribute a portion of their paycheck. Equitable makes money by charging fees for managing the investments and administering the plan.
This part of the company operates mostly through a well-known investment firm called AllianceBernstein (AB), in which Equitable owns a majority stake. AB is a global money manager that invests large sums of money for clients like pension funds, foundations, and wealthy individuals. They earn fees based on the amount of money they manage, which is known as assets under management (AUM). This segment provides Equitable with a significant and steady stream of revenue that is different from its insurance-based businesses.
This is the company's life insurance business. They sell various types of life insurance policies that pay out a sum of money to a person's family or beneficiaries when they pass away. They also offer employee benefits (like group life, dental, and disability insurance) to small and medium-sized businesses who then offer these benefits to their workers. The company collects regular payments, called premiums, from policyholders in exchange for this financial protection.
This segment operates through Equitable's network of thousands of financial professionals who provide personalized financial advice and planning services. These advisors help individuals with their overall financial picture, including investment strategies, retirement planning, and insurance needs. The company earns revenue through fees for financial advice and by selling various financial products, including those from Equitable's other business lines.
Management is focused on growing the parts of the business that are less capital-intensive (meaning they don't require Equitable to hold as much money in reserve). Their main priorities are expanding the Retirement, Asset Management, and Wealth Management businesses, which primarily earn fees from clients. The company has also been actively managing its older, more capital-heavy insurance policies, sometimes by using reinsurance (a process where an insurer transfers risk to another insurance company). This strategy is designed to free up cash that can be returned to shareholders or reinvested into their core growth areas.
Price history
Earnings history
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
Is it cheap or expensive?
For a bank or insurer, the "free cash flow" shown on its statements is mostly money flowing through loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually keep, which is what this kind of valuation needs. Running that through the usual method would spit out a meaningless number, so we leave the cash-flow fair value out here rather than show you something misleading.
Is it drowning in debt?
Net cash $12.0B - more cash than debt. Interest coverage -4.3x.
Equitable Holdings, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 0.0 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here and 1 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Total debt $7.17B Interest coverage -4.33x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $14.47B Interest coverage -10.69x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
Total debt $4.30B Interest coverage 14.82x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while EQH does not.
Total debt $4.58B Interest coverage 4.39x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while EQH does not.
Total debt $7.24B Interest coverage 6.89x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while EQH does not.
What you should know
The numbers
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Valuation
Profitability
Health
Growth
Cash flow
Dividend
Metric explainer
Debt comparison
What you should know