PJT (PJT)

Investment banking firm PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, but sales rose 12.1% year on year to $535.2 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.55 per share was 6.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Company Overview

Spun off from Blackstone in 2015 and founded by former Morgan Stanley executive Paul J. Taubman, PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) is an advisory-focused investment bank that provides strategic advice, restructuring services, and fundraising solutions to corporations, boards, and investment firms.

Investment banks and brokerages facilitate capital raises, mergers and acquisitions, and securities trading. The sector benefits from corporate activity during economic expansion, increased retail trading participation, and advisory opportunities in emerging sectors. Headwinds include economic cycle vulnerability affecting deal flow, compressed trading commissions due to electronic platforms, and regulatory capital requirements constraining certain higher-risk activities.

PJT Partners competes with independent advisory firms like Evercore (NYSE:EVR), Lazard (NYSE:LAZ), and Moelis & Company (NYSE:MC), as well as the investment banking divisions of major financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, PJT grew its revenue at a decent 10.2% compounded annual growth rate. Its growth was slightly above the average financials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. PJT’s annualized revenue growth of 21.9% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand recently accelerated. Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.

This quarter, PJT’s revenue grew by 12.1% year on year to $535.2 million but fell short of Wall Street’s estimates.

Revenue growth is one major determinant of business quality, and the efficiency of operations is another. For Investment Banking & Brokerage companies, we look at pre-tax profit rather than the operating margin that defines sectors such as consumer, tech, and industrials.

Interest income and expenses play a big role in financial institutions' profitability, so they should be factored into the definition of profit. Taxes, however, should not as they are largely out of a company's control. This is pre-tax profit by definition.

Over the last five years, PJT’s pre-tax profit margin has risen by 3.6 percentage points, going from 22.1% to 20%. Luckily, it seems the company has recently taken steps to address its expense base as its pre-tax profit margin expanded by 4.6 percentage points on a two-year basis.

PJT’s pre-tax profit margin came in at 23% this quarter. This result was 1.4 percentage points better than the same quarter last year.

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

PJT’s EPS grew at an unimpressive 7.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 10.2% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded due to factors such as interest expenses and taxes.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

For PJT, its two-year annual EPS growth of 46.2% was higher than its five-year trend. This acceleration made it one of the faster-growing financials companies in recent history.

In Q4, PJT reported adjusted EPS of $2.55, up from $1.90 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 6.4%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects PJT’s full-year EPS of $6.99 to grow 8.7%.

Return on equity, or ROE, tells us how much profit a company generates for each dollar of shareholder equity, a key funding source for banks. Over a long period, banks with high ROE tend to compound shareholder wealth faster through retained earnings, buybacks, and dividends.

Over the last five years, PJT has averaged an ROE of 26.2%, exceptional for a company operating in a sector where the average shakes out around 10% and those putting up 25%+ are greatly admired. This shows PJT has a strong competitive moat.

It was good to see PJT beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its revenue slightly missed. Zooming out, we think this was a mixed quarter. The stock remained flat at $174.03 immediately following the results.

Updated: February 3, 2026 at 7:04 AM EST

When considering an investment in PJT, investors should account for its valuation and business qualities as well as what’s happened in the latest quarter.

For starters, its revenue growth was good over the last five years and is expected to accelerate over the next 12 months. And while its declining pre-tax profit margin shows the business has become less efficient, its stellar ROE suggests it has been a well-run company historically.

PJT’s P/E ratio based on the next 12 months is 22.9x. This valuation tells us it’s a bit of a market darling with a lot of good news priced in. Add this one to your watchlist and come back to it later.

Wall Street analysts have a consensus one-year price target of $182.40 on the company (compared to the current share price of $174.03).