SS&C Technologies Holdings (SSNC)·Q4 2025 Earnings Summary

SS&C Delivers Record Q4 on Strong Fund Admin Demand, Stock Jumps 4%

February 5, 2026 · by Fintool AI Agent

SS&C Technologies delivered record quarterly results for Q4 2025, with adjusted revenue of $1,654.6 million (+8.1% YoY) and adjusted diluted EPS of $1.69 (+18.2% YoY). The company's alternative asset administration business (GlobeOp) continues to be the primary growth engine, delivering 9.6% organic growth as alternative assets under administration surged to record levels.

The stock rose ~4% in after-hours trading to $78.00 after management issued FY 2026 guidance above Street consensus. CEO Bill Stone addressed recent AI-driven software stock sell-offs head-on, calling SS&C "uniquely positioned and structurally protected through the ownership of our software and code." Management noted AI investments are "paying off" and expects to achieve a 40% EBITDA margin by Q4 2026.

Did SS&C Beat Earnings?

Yes — SS&C beat on both revenue and adjusted EPS.

Key callout: The -21.4% decline in GAAP EPS was driven by a $33.3 million loss on sale of fixed assets and higher "Other" expenses, not operational weakness. Adjusted EPS, which strips out these items, grew 18.2% and reflects true operational performance.

Organic growth accelerated: Q4 2025 adjusted organic revenue growth was 5.3%, up from 4.8% for FY 2025 and reflecting improving momentum across the core fund administration business.

What Did Management Guide?

FY 2026 guidance came in above Street consensus — a positive signal that fueled the after-hours rally.

*Values retrieved from S&P Global.

Guidance takeaways:

• Revenue guidance midpoint of $6,734M is ~1.9% above consensus of $6,609M
• EPS guidance midpoint of $6.86 is ~3.8% above consensus of $6.61
• Organic growth expected to remain in the ~5% range, consistent with recent quarters
• Operating cash flow guided to $1.7-1.8B, roughly flat with FY 2025's $1.74B
• Margin target: Management targeting 50 bps annual EBITDA expansion with a goal of 40% margin by Q4 2026
• Growth cadence: Q1 and FY guidance are nearly identical (~5% organic) — management noted this reflects improved business predictability and stronger recurring revenue

How Did the Stock React?

SSNC shares had been under pressure heading into earnings, down ~18% from their 52-week high of $91.07. The stock fell 9.87% on February 3 amid broader market weakness related to tariff concerns, but the strong Q4 results and above-consensus guidance sparked a relief rally.

Valuation context: At the after-hours price of $78.00, SSNC trades at ~11.4x FY 2026 adjusted EPS (midpoint of $6.86), below its historical average. Market cap stands at approximately $18.3B.

What Changed From Last Quarter?

GlobeOp remains the growth engine: The hedge fund and private markets administration business delivered 9.6% organic growth in Q4, consistent with Q3's 9.6% and significantly outpacing overall company growth. Alternative assets under administration are up $637 billion over the past two years.

GIDS accelerated sharply: The GIDS (retirement and distribution solutions) business delivered 13.2% organic growth in Q4, up dramatically from 9.0% in Q3 and 2.9% in Q2 — the standout acceleration story this quarter.

Problem areas persist: Healthcare (-14.0% organic) and Intelligent Automation (-7.0% organic, which includes Blue Prism) remain drags. Management hasn't provided specific turnaround plans for these segments.

Segment Organic Growth Detail

Capital Allocation and Balance Sheet

SS&C continues its aggressive capital return program while maintaining disciplined leverage.

Key observations:

• Operating cash flow surged 25.7% YoY, driven by working capital improvements and higher earnings
• Management allocated over $1 billion to share repurchases in 2025 at an average price of $84.12 — below current trading levels
• 43% of capital allocation went directly to shareholders (repurchases + dividends), 23% to debt paydown
• Net leverage at 2.80x remains within management's target range of 2.5-3.0x

Key Management Quotes

"We are all well aware of the sell-off in software company shares following the recent release of the AI-driven automation tools across legal, sales, and marketing, and accounting functions. We take all competitors seriously, but we strongly believe we have a wide and deep moat, not easily navigated." — Bill Stone, Chairman and CEO

"We're uniquely positioned and structurally protected through the ownership of our software and code, enabling us to leverage AI in ways that only we can for our customers." — Bill Stone, Chairman and CEO

"Across the business, we're seeing a consistent trend of clients making long-term decisions to outsource, simplify, and scale their accounting models on our platform. These are multi-year partnerships that create recurring revenue, expand over time, and provide clear visibility into future growth." — Rahul Kanwar, President and COO

"Large language models sometimes have hallucinations. Those regulators, they don't really quite understand us telling them, 'Well, it's a problem, a hallucination.' That—I don't think that flies." — Bill Stone, Chairman and CEO

Revenue Retention Remains Strong

SS&C continues to demonstrate high recurring revenue quality with retention rates remaining stable at elevated levels across all business lines.

Risks and Concerns

Healthcare and Intelligent Automation weakness: The sharp Q4 declines (-14.0% and -7.0% organic, respectively) warrant close monitoring. These represent ~$828M in annual revenue and could be structural issues.

GAAP earnings divergence: The widening gap between GAAP and adjusted results (GAAP EPS -21.4% vs. Adjusted EPS +18.2%) reflects significant non-cash and one-time charges. While adjusted metrics better reflect operations, investors should track GAAP trends.

Leverage: At 2.80x net leverage, SS&C has less flexibility than peers if rates remain elevated or acquisition opportunities arise.

Foreign currency: Q4 organic growth benefited from favorable FX translation of 15.7M. FX headwinds could emerge in 2026.

Q&A Highlights

Healthcare Weakness Explained: Management acknowledged the tough Q4 but characterized it as "lumpy" rather than structural. A notable multi-million dollar license closed in the first 10 days of January 2026. CEO Stone highlighted the rewritten Amisys platform and upcoming "OneHealth" offering combining Amisys and DomaniRx for medical and pharmacy claims. The segment remains a $260-270M business running at "pretty healthy EBITDA margins."

Elevance Relationship Update: When pressed on the DomaniRx relationship with Elevance, Stone noted the original sponsor has moved on and it's "hard to find another one," though they see "rays of sunshine at the end of the tunnel."

Alternative Fund Admin AUA Breakdown: Of the exceptional Q4 AUA growth, ~$92B was organic; the remainder came from the Curo Fund Services acquisition.

Intelligent Automation Outlook: Despite the -7% Q4 decline (driven by tough license comps), management is "really pretty optimistic" for 2026. This is where AI innovation is concentrated — AI agents, large language models, orchestration platforms, and AI governance solutions are developed here before rolling out across other businesses.

Black Diamond/Wealth Management: CEO Stone highlighted Black Diamond as a "crown jewel" with ~$3.5 trillion in assets under administration and approximately 4,000 RIA clients. SS&C has already migrated 500-600 Morningstar wealth clients onto Black Diamond following the acquisition.

AI/Fintech Competition: Stone pushed back on fintech disruption fears: "It's not very difficult to start a fintech... but to build an organization with 29,000 people, 23,000 customers, several hundred products and services is a little more daunting." He emphasized that LLM hallucinations don't fly with SEC and CMS regulators — giving incumbents an advantage with conservative, compliance-focused clients.

M&A Capacity: With leverage at 2.8x, management believes they could execute a large acquisition if the right opportunity emerges. Stone noted competitive advantages from running proprietary data centers and private cloud infrastructure.

Bottom Line

SS&C delivered a clean beat with accelerating organic growth in key segments and above-consensus FY 2026 guidance. The GlobeOp fund administration engine continues to benefit from secular growth in alternative assets, while GIDS retirement solutions showed notable acceleration. Problem areas in Healthcare and Intelligent Automation bear watching, but at ~11x forward earnings with 5%+ organic growth and strong cash generation, the valuation appears attractive relative to financial software peers.

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Earnings call: February 5, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET. View transcript

Related: SS&C Company Profile | Q3 2025 Earnings