# Cohen & Steers (CNS.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CNS

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:35.118Z. Financial observations: FY2000–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $68.98 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $41.71 per share, central $53.48 per share, high $62.50 per share. Buy at or below the central value $53.48 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:27:35.118Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 8.4% at the stated quote. About 8.4% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 2 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 2

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.16×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.39×

- FY2017: 0.41×

- FY2018: 0.39×

- FY2019: 0.39×

- FY2020: 0.22×

- FY2021: 0.45×

- FY2022: 0.38×

- FY2023: 0.34×

- FY2024: 0.33×

- FY2025: 0.32×

### moat: fail

- Recent gross margin fell 4.2pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 68.0%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 40.0%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 4.2 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 52.2%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 48.1%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 0.9%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 63.9%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: >100%

- FY2017: >100%

- FY2018: 40.0%

- FY2019: 91.3%

- FY2020: 51.5%

- FY2021: >100%

- FY2022: 83.7%

- FY2023: 52.4%

- FY2024: 41.3%

- FY2025: 25.5%

### economics: fail

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.96×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $785M

- Net income, five-year total: $816M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 86.7%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 3.0 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 29.4 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 25.8%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.06×

- FY2022: 1.01×

- FY2023: 0.60×

- FY2024: 1.00×

- FY2025: 1.04×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 364.1% vs 41.3%

- Per-share earnings: 1.96 to 2.97 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 1.2%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 1.1%

- Market cap gain: $1.7B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $22M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 1.2%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 1.1%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 5.4%

- Per-share value change: $1.01

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $1.96

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $2.97

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.35

- Average buyback yield: 0.6%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $3.8M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $1.3B

- ROIC, first three-year median: >100%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 41.3%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $2.00

- FY2017: $1.96

- FY2018: $2.40

- FY2019: $2.79

- FY2020: $1.57

- FY2021: $4.31

- FY2022: $3.47

- FY2023: $2.60

- FY2024: $2.97

- FY2025: $2.97

### accounting: fail

- Sloan accruals exceed 10%

- earnings not backed by cash

- Sloan accruals: 30.1%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.00×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: No

- Operating cash / earnings: -0.79×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.04×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -6.6%

- FY2017: 6.8%

- FY2018: 9.5%

- FY2019: -1.7%

- FY2020: -3.6%

- FY2021: -6.4%

- FY2022: 16.2%

- FY2023: -5.8%

- FY2024: 6.7%

- FY2025: 30.1%

## Holders

- [Matthew McLennan](https://gigainvestors.com/FE): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 34% since Nov 2024 · "CNS Q4 Deep Dive: Margin Compression Overshadows Net Inflows and Product Expansion" (finance.yahoo.com, Jan 2026) · sales +7.5%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:32.354Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 7% a year for ten years

- 2026-01-26: CNS Q4 Deep Dive: Margin Compression Overshadows Net Inflows and Product Expansion ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cns-q4-deep-dive-margin-175050889.html))

- 2026-04-17: CNS Q1 Deep Dive: Real Asset Flows and ETF Expansion Offset Margin Pressure ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/cns-q1-deep-dive-real-201626032.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +7.5%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1284812/000128481226000011/cns-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-27.

- FY2016: $350M 

- FY2017: $379M 

- FY2018: $381M 

- FY2019: $411M 

- FY2020: $428M 

- FY2021: $584M 

- FY2022: $567M 

- FY2023: $490M 

- FY2024: $517M 

- FY2025: $556M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 58.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1284812/000128481226000011/cns-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-27.

- FY2016: 52.8% 

- FY2017: 54.3% 

- FY2018: 55.2% 

- FY2019: 51.6% 

- FY2020: 37.3% 

- FY2021: 53.5% 

- FY2022: 49.7% 

- FY2023: 48.1% 

- FY2024: 46.8% 

- FY2025: 58.7% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in asset management; annual sales are USD 556.1 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1284812/000128481226000011/cns-20251231.htm#000128481226000011 (filed 2026-02-27); FY2025: revenue 556116000; grossProfit 326518000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 46.8% to 58.7% during 2023–25; it earns 68% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 48.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 46.8%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1284812/000128481226000011/cns-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-27); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 58.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,3.640811391724879],[2017,6.299154559118237],[2018,0.400147569116374],[2019,0.9134478074534669],[2020,0.5145616574605971],[2021,3.927386980054823],[2022,0.8370499958520673],[2023,0.5236404007313231],[2024,0.4127556797367744],[2025,0.25504131529658447]]; median 0.6803451982916953. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 28.4 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2016: growth capex 752542.3203866519; upkeep 9430457.679613348; owner earnings 91115542.32038665. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.008259209145027218.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 3242000; owner earnings 93014000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 3470000; owner earnings 124263000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 2752000; owner earnings 146899000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 2502000; owner earnings 90355000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 2695000; owner earnings 224734000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 4223000; owner earnings 172486000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 56986000; owner earnings 77920136.105889. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); FY2024: growth capex 482000; upkeep 11169000; owner earnings 151265000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.003186460846858163.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1284812/000128481226000011/cns-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-27); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 5979000; owner earnings 158799659.84955335. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); Dividend observations: [[2016,70825000],[2017,98313000],[2018,178879000],[2019,162705000],[2020,122489000],[2021,147555000],[2022,107352000],[2023,112446000],[2024,119181000],[2025,126924000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1284812/000128481226000011/cns-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-27); FY2025: cash repurchases 28416000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 45.8% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CNS.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 45.828 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 7% yearly over ten years; actual growth was 7.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-27); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.08761726193473054. Price 68.98; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 1.4889208444996405 → FY2025 3.0819326136232843. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $37.18 per share

- 2016-11: $35.60 per share

- 2016-12: $33.60 per share

- 2017-01: $34.89 per share

- 2017-02: $37.61 per share

- 2017-03: $39.97 per share

- 2017-04: $39.90 per share

- 2017-05: $39.20 per share

- 2017-06: $40.54 per share

- 2017-07: $40.40 per share

- 2017-08: $37.84 per share

- 2017-09: $39.49 per share

- 2017-10: $43.49 per share

- 2017-11: $46.58 per share

- 2017-12: $47.29 per share

- 2018-01: $40.77 per share

- 2018-02: $40.00 per share

- 2018-03: $40.66 per share

- 2018-04: $40.10 per share

- 2018-05: $38.93 per share

- 2018-06: $41.71 per share

- 2018-07: $41.89 per share

- 2018-08: $41.57 per share

- 2018-09: $40.61 per share

- 2018-10: $38.39 per share

- 2018-11: $37.36 per share

- 2018-12: $34.32 per share

- 2019-01: $37.63 per share

- 2019-02: $41.76 per share

- 2019-03: $42.27 per share

- 2019-04: $50.15 per share

- 2019-05: $51.22 per share

- 2019-06: $51.44 per share

- 2019-07: $52.37 per share

- 2019-08: $53.93 per share

- 2019-09: $54.93 per share

- 2019-10: $65.44 per share

- 2019-11: $67.13 per share

- 2019-12: $62.76 per share

- 2020-01: $73.98 per share

- 2020-02: $62.65 per share

- 2020-03: $45.45 per share

- 2020-04: $57.74 per share

- 2020-05: $63.55 per share

- 2020-06: $68.05 per share

- 2020-07: $60.18 per share

- 2020-08: $60.50 per share

- 2020-09: $55.74 per share

- 2020-10: $56.31 per share

- 2020-11: $70.77 per share

- 2020-12: $74.30 per share

- 2021-01: $65.50 per share

- 2021-02: $64.38 per share

- 2021-03: $65.33 per share

- 2021-04: $68.02 per share

- 2021-05: $73.13 per share

- 2021-06: $82.09 per share

- 2021-07: $83.21 per share

- 2021-08: $87.71 per share

- 2021-09: $83.77 per share

- 2021-10: $94.89 per share

- 2021-11: $89.77 per share

- 2021-12: $92.51 per share

- 2022-01: $83.53 per share

- 2022-02: $81.26 per share

- 2022-03: $85.89 per share

- 2022-04: $77.69 per share

- 2022-05: $76.21 per share

- 2022-06: $63.59 per share

- 2022-07: $73.69 per share

- 2022-08: $71.38 per share

- 2022-09: $62.63 per share

- 2022-10: $60.16 per share

- 2022-11: $66.25 per share

- 2022-12: $64.56 per share

- 2023-01: $73.47 per share

- 2023-02: $72.36 per share

- 2023-03: $63.96 per share

- 2023-04: $60.06 per share

- 2023-05: $54.41 per share

- 2023-06: $57.99 per share

- 2023-07: $64.31 per share

- 2023-08: $65.18 per share

- 2023-09: $62.69 per share

- 2023-10: $52.24 per share

- 2023-11: $58.49 per share

- 2023-12: $75.73 per share

- 2024-01: $70.42 per share

- 2024-02: $73.55 per share

- 2024-03: $76.89 per share

- 2024-04: $68.78 per share

- 2024-05: $70.29 per share

- 2024-06: $72.56 per share

- 2024-07: $85.82 per share

- 2024-08: $89.36 per share

- 2024-09: $95.95 per share

- 2024-10: $98.77 per share

- 2024-11: $104.66 per share

- 2024-12: $92.34 per share

- 2025-01: $88.63 per share

- 2025-02: $87.40 per share

- 2025-03: $80.25 per share

- 2025-04: $76.32 per share

- 2025-05: $76.84 per share

- 2025-06: $75.35 per share

- 2025-07: $73.56 per share

- 2025-08: $73.86 per share

- 2025-09: $65.61 per share

- 2025-10: $68.32 per share

- 2025-11: $63.25 per share

- 2025-12: $62.78 per share

- 2026-01: $64.26 per share

- 2026-02: $66.87 per share

- 2026-03: $62.55 per share

- 2026-04: $70.29 per share

- 2026-05: $69.80 per share

- 2026-06: $76.14 per share

- 2026-07: $82.27 per share

- 2026-08: $80.67 per share

- 2026-09: $73.11 per share

- 2026-10: $68.98 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $27.58 per share, central $34.53 per share, high $39.57 per share

- FY2017: low $28.39 per share, central $31.50 per share, high $35.65 per share

- FY2018: low $29.81 per share, central $41.71 per share, high $48.66 per share

- FY2019: low $26.14 per share, central $29.48 per share, high $33.92 per share

- FY2020: low $29.01 per share, central $37.43 per share, high $43.66 per share

- FY2021: low $46.39 per share, central $52.23 per share, high $60.01 per share

- FY2022: low $46.08 per share, central $51.73 per share, high $59.26 per share

- FY2023: low $38.00 per share, central $42.59 per share, high $48.65 per share

- FY2024: low $37.92 per share, central $42.40 per share, high $48.36 per share

- FY2025: low $37.03 per share, central $41.78 per share, high $48.11 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1284812/000128481226000011/cns-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-27.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.