Blue Owl Capital's (NYSE:OWL) co-CEO Marc Lipschultz stated that the firm doesn't see any "red flags" in relation to software AI disruption. 

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"Tech lending has worked, continues to work and to get very direct, no, we don't have any red flags. In fact, we don't have yellow flags. We have largely green flags. The tech portfolio continues to be the most pristine amongst all of our subsectors," Lipschultz said during a fourth quarter earnings call with analysts. 

The co-CEO added that Blue Owl's software loan book has remained strong and hasn't seen any decreases in performance. These loans on average 30% of the value of the enterprise, with "huge" equity cushions, he added.

"I want to make sure everyone understands that software remains an area where sophisticated buyers are still highly active. If you have the right software solutions, you are going to benefit from the adoption of AI. This monolithic view and action people are taking is going to prove, I think, quite misguided, and it’s going to lead to a miss in significant opportunities, he added.

CFO Alan Kirshenbaum noted that Blue Owl's total exposure to software loans across its assets under management (AUM) is 8 percent.

Blue Owl's AUM increased 22 percent since Dec. 31, 2024, up to $307 billion. This was primarily driven by capital raised across the business, as well as the acquisition of IPI.

The firm raised $17 billion in new capital commitments in the quarter; new capital commitments raised included $56 billion during the year.

Fee-paying AUM increased 17 percent since Dec. 31, 2024, to $187 billion. This was primarily due to capital raised across the business, the IPI acquisition and deployment in credit.

In Blue Owl's Credit platform, AUM increased 16 percent since Dec. 31, 2024, driven by capital raised in products from the direct lending and alternative credit strategies, partially offset by distributions in the direct lending strategy.

Kirshenbaum noted that Blue Owl is "behind its Investor Day goals," due to headwinds in private credit.

"We're just one year into a five-year long-term target. But the last few months we've had headwinds in private credit, AI and software. We've seen a slowdown for non-traded Business Development Companies (BDCs) and private wealth flows and an increase in the tenders for non-traded BDCs," Kirshenbaum said.

The CFO added that the firm believes it can show a modest increase in the growth rate of fee-related earnings (FRE) per share this year versus last and can accelerate that growth this year.

OWL Price Action: Blue Owl Capital stock closed down 3.49% on Thursday. After-hours trading has the stock up 1.45% at $11.80 a share.

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