SEI's Quarter 2 2026 Earnings Call: A Reflection of Strategic Goals and Future Growth Opportunities
SEI, a leading provider of investment processing software and services, has reported outstanding second-quarter results for the year 2026. According to the company's recent conference call transcript, SEI achieved record revenue growth of 15%, adjusted operating profit increase of 36%, and adjusted earnings per share growth of 38% compared to the prior year.
SEI's Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Hicke, attributed these impressive financial results to the company's strategic efforts over the past few years. Speaking during the conference call, Hicke emphasized that SEI has become more disciplined in its capital allocation and has evolved its value proposition and operating model as an enterprise.
One of the key highlights from the quarter is SEI's expansion into private markets for retail and retirement channels. The company believes this trend remains in its early stages, and SEI is well-positioned to capitalize on it due to its ability to execute at scale. As private markets move into wealth and retirement channels, managers require administration, transfer agency, investor servicing, compliance, and scalable operational infrastructure – capabilities that SEI has spent decades building.
SEI's recent expansion of its SEC-registered transfer agency is an important milestone in this regard, combined with its fund admin platform and trust company. This full-stack capability makes SEI the natural partner for investment managers bringing private asset solutions to the retirement space. The company is also seeing growing interest in bringing private market exposure into retirement plans, especially through collective investment trusts.
SEI's Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Hicke, believes that these initiatives have the potential to grow into a business generating more than $100 million of annual run rate revenue in five years. This represents one of the most compelling growth opportunities for SEI and showcases its position as the connective tissue of modern financial services.
Another key area of focus for SEI is its asset management strategy. The company has moved beyond reimagining the business and into execution, with momentum in ETFs, expanding private market capabilities, and advancing a growing product pipeline. Last week, SEI launched its latest active factor ETF, SEUS, bringing its total ETF lineup to 10 funds.
Over the last 12 months, the ETF business at SEI has grown from $3 billion to over $8 billion. The company is also making progress in private markets through initiatives like its recently announced partnership with Carlyle, which combines Carlyle's origination expertise and distribution with SEI's breadth of capabilities.
Finally, SEI's Stratos platform is seeing growing interest from advisors seeking succession, liquidity, and growth solutions without leaving the SEI ecosystem. By providing an alternative path, Stratos helps these firms remain within SEI while creating additional opportunities for the company to participate in their future growth.
