Houlihan Lokey, Inc. · HLI · FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q1 2026
Houlihan Lokey’s Q3 growth broadens, with expansion and execution risks in view
Q3 FY2026 results support the view that resilient deal activity and broader service capabilities can sustain growth: revenue and adjusted EPS rose year over year, while Corporate Finance and Restructuring both advanced. The thesis depends on M&A momentum holding up and new acquisitions and DataBank translating into durable contributions; restructuring pressure and integration costs could temper progress.
Earnings scorecard
Reported versus consensusMarket reaction
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Transcript intelligence
What changed
Growth continued from the prior quarter, with Q3 revenue up 13% year over year to $717 million and adjusted EPS up 18% to $1.94. The quarter added European expansion through two acquisitions and introduced DataBank, while management maintained its guidance sentiment and expressed confidence in the FY2027 outlook.
Guidance delta
Guidance sentiment was maintained. Management expressed confidence in the FY2027 outlook, citing continued M&A momentum and Capital Solutions growth; no revised quantitative guidance was supplied in the analysis.
Key takeaways
- Revenue of $717 million and adjusted EPS of $1.94 rose 13% and 18% year over year, respectively, and both exceeded consensus estimates.
- Corporate Finance revenue was $474 million, up 12%; Financial Restructuring revenue was $156 million, up 19%.
- The Mellon Capital real-estate advisory business and O'Dare Partners transactions expand capabilities and European reach.
- DataBank creates a new data-monetization initiative, but its commercial traction and revenue potential remain unproven in the supplied analysis.
Management priorities
- Complete the O'Dare Partners acquisition and continue European hiring and service expansion.
- Develop and monetize the DataBank data offering.
- Expand Capital Solutions across market segments while balancing share repurchases with strategic acquisitions.
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Analyst 52W Price Targets
Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Nov 3, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.
Firm-level rating actions
FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.
| Firm | Rating | Prior rating | Action | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP Morgan | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Citizens | Market Outperform | Market Perform | Upgrade | Oct 9, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Overweight | Overweight | Maintain | Oct 8, 2026 |
| UBS | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 7, 2026 |
| BMO Capital | Outperform | Outperform | Maintain | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Keefe, Bruyette & Woods | Outperform | Outperform | Maintain | Jul 30, 2026 |
| Goldman Sachs | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Jul 30, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Overweight | Overweight | Maintain | Jul 11, 2025 |
| JMP Securities | Market Perform | Market Perform | Maintain | Jan 29, 2025 |
| Piper Sandler | Underweight | Underweight | Maintain | Jul 8, 2022 |
| Seaport Global | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Dec 16, 2020 |
| Buckingham Research | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Jan 13, 2020 |
| Buckingham | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Jan 13, 2020 |
| Bank of America | Buy | Neutral | Upgrade | Jan 9, 2019 |
| B of A Securities | Buy | Neutral | Upgrade | Jan 9, 2019 |
| Sandler O'Neill | Hold | Buy | Downgrade | Aug 18, 2016 |
Named analyst price targets
Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $146.44. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.
| Firm | Analyst | 52W target | Price when posted | Upside | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Stanley | Ryan Kenny | $165 | $125.22 | +12.7% | Oct 8, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $154 | $127.94 | +5.2% | Oct 7, 2026 |
| BMO Capital | Analyst unavailable | $145 | $125.49 | -1.0% | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $177 | $125.59 | +20.9% | Jul 30, 2026 |
| Goldman Sachs | Analyst unavailable | $148 | $139.08 | +1.1% | Jul 30, 2026 |
| Goldman Sachs | Analyst unavailable | $164 | $136.44 | +12.0% | Jul 10, 2026 |
| US Capital Advisors | Analyst unavailable | $187 | $136.48 | +27.7% | Jul 9, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $161 | $136.1 | +9.9% | Jul 8, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $160 | $152.4 | +9.3% | May 7, 2026 |
| Morgan Stanley | Ryan Kenny | $193 | $150.12 | +31.8% | Apr 9, 2026 |
| UBS | Michael Brown | $196 | $168.78 | +33.8% | Jan 30, 2026 |
| BMO Capital | Brennan Hawken | $211 | $180.53 | +44.1% | Jan 29, 2026 |
| UBS | Michael Brown | $193 | $180.42 | +31.8% | Dec 11, 2025 |
| Deutsche Bank | Analyst unavailable | $210 | $191.3 | +43.4% | Oct 9, 2025 |
| Wells Fargo | Michael Brown | $179 | $157.32 | +22.2% | Mar 11, 2025 |
| Morgan Stanley | Ryan Kenny | $163 | $160.3 | +11.3% | Sep 23, 2024 |
| Piper Sandler | Jeffrey Harte | $76 | $82.13 | -48.1% | Apr 11, 2022 |
| Piper Sandler | Jeffrey Harte | $92 | $90.72 | -37.2% | Mar 30, 2022 |
| Piper Sandler | Jeffrey Harte | $106 | $98.42 | -27.6% | Mar 16, 2022 |
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Start freeCompany context
Snapshot as of publicationHoulihan Lokey, Inc. is a prominent global investment banking firm offering a comprehensive suite of financial advisory services. These include expertise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), capital markets, financial restructuring, and valuation. The company's operations are divided into three core segments: The Corporate Finance division provides broad financial guidance. It assists both public and private entities with strategic buy-side and sell-side transactions and a variety of capital-raising activities, such as leveraged loans, private mezzanine debt, high-yield debt, initial public offerings (IPOs), follow-on offerings, convertibles, equity private placements, and private equity investments. This segment also advises financial sponsors on diverse deal structures and liability management initiatives. The Financial Restructuring segment guides debtors, creditors, and other involved parties through complex recapitalization and deleveraging processes.…
Historical context
All HLI earningsFinancial Services peers this season
Latest reports in the same sector| Company | Quarter | EPS surprise | Market move | Headline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBOE Cboe Global Markets, Inc. | FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2026 | +5.8% | +6.8% | Cboe posts strong Q3 as options growth and new products advance |
| NWG NatWest Group plc | FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2026 | +2.0% | -9.0% | NatWest maintains guidance as Q3 growth and capital remain strong |
| ERIE Erie Indemnity Company | FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2026 | +2.1% | +5.3% | Erie pairs resilient demand initiatives with thin underwriting margins |
| COIN Coinbase Global, Inc. | FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2026 | +1189.2% | -10.6% | Coinbase offsets lower spot trading with prediction markets and AI agents |
Latest beats and misses
Who reports nextBeat on EPS
- MARFY2026 Q3 · November 2, 2026+6.3% EPS+4.3% move
- NBIXFY2026 Q3 · November 2, 2026+72.3% EPS-0.5% move
- AXSMFY2026 Q3 · November 2, 2026+60.6% EPS-5.8% move
- TEMFY2026 Q3 · November 2, 2026+174.7% EPS+8.7% move
- BWXTFY2026 Q3 · November 2, 2026+6.8% EPS-0.2% move
- CUBEFY2026 Q3 · October 29, 2026+2.3% EPS+4.0% move
Missed on EPS
- RYAAYFY2027 Q2 · November 2, 2026-0.3% EPS+2.9% move
- GLPIFY2026 Q3 · October 29, 2026-11.5% EPS-1.3% move
- LYBFY2026 Q3 · October 30, 2026-1.2% EPS+5.0% move
- CCJFY2026 Q3 · October 30, 2026-101.4% EPS-7.9% move
- VALEFY2026 Q3 · October 29, 2026-24.6% EPS+1.9% move
- PINSFY2026 Q3 · October 29, 2026-5.4% EPS-2.8% move
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Sources
- Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
- FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
- Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-11-03T02:40:46.298944+00:00
- Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-11-03T02:40:46.295831+00:00
Methodology
Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.
Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.
Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.
By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-11-03. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.