Blue Owl's Digital Infrastructure Bet and the Next Phase for OWL

Blue Owl Capital Inc. OWL is leaning into long-duration strategies that can compound fee-related earnings (FRE) over time. The platform has meaningful exposure to secular growth themes tied to infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI), which has supported strong organic momentum in recent years.

Now, the core question is how Blue Owl converts that thematic exposure into durable fee streams, especially as fundraising cycles shift and deployment timing becomes the swing factor for near-term results.

OWL Growth Themes Include Infrastructure and AI Exposure

Blue Owl’s FRE revenues delivered a four-year compound annual growth rate of 31% from 2021 to 2025, supported by exposure to infrastructure and AI-related demand drivers. That tailwind is showing up across the company’s diversified lineup, rather than relying on a single product category.

Digital infrastructure is becoming a clearer fundraising lane within Real Assets, and 2026 is positioned as an important product year. Management expects Digital Infrastructure Fund IV to return to market in 2026, adding a fresh institutional vehicle at a time when the strategy is scaling within the platform.

The runway is supported by tangible progress in existing funds. Digital Infrastructure Fund III surpassed 50% called capital after its April 2025 final close, and the evergreen ODIT vehicle posted a $1.7 billion first close in the fourth quarter of 2025. Together, these vehicles broaden distribution, diversify fundraising channels, and can support margin resilience as fee-paying assets expand.

OWL’s Retirement Offerings and Wealth Channel Growth

Blue Owl is also targeting the wealth channel as a steadier source of flows. Management plans to launch retirement offerings and expand global distribution, with a focus on building scale.

Evergreen products are a key lever here. The firm’s evergreen wealth funds, including OCIC, OTIC, ORENT, ODIT and OWLCX, have continued to scale, and early-2026 daily flows were described as generally stabilizing. A more consistent wealth channel helps balance the inherently lumpier institutional fundraising cycle and can smooth the path for fee growth through changing market conditions.

Blue Owl’s Embedded Deployment Could Lift 2027 Results

A major setup for the next phase is embedded deployment. Management cited $28.4 billion of assets not yet paying fees at 2025-end, representing a sizable pool of capital that can turn into fee revenue as it is put to work.

Those assets are expected to translate into more than $325 million of annual management fees once deployed. With deployment timing influencing when fees are recognized, the outlook points to a balanced path for FRE revenue growth in 2026 and potential faster acceleration in 2027 as the embedded base converts into recurring fees.

Blue Owl Capital Inc. Price and Consensus

Blue Owl Capital Inc. price-consensus-chart | Blue Owl Capital Inc. Quote

OWL’s Platform Expansion via Strategic Acquisitions

Blue Owl’s platform expansion has not been limited to organic fundraising. Strategic acquisitions over the years have expanded fee sources in investment-grade credit and digital infrastructure, strengthening the breadth of earnings drivers across the franchise.

That broader footprint supports a “multiple engines” model: Credit adjacencies gaining scale, Real Assets showing momentum that includes digital infrastructure, and GP Strategic Capital benefiting from strategy diversification. The result is a more diversified mix of fee streams, which can help reduce dependence on any single market cycle.

Blue Owl: What to Track in Fundraising and Fee Metrics

Fundraising momentum remains strong. Blue Owl raised $42 billion in 2025, up from $27.5 billion in 2024 and $15.4 billion in 2023, and management expects 2026 fundraising to look broadly similar to 2025. Fee durability remains the anchor, with Permanent Capital vehicles accounting for about 85% of management fees. The key variable is deployment timing, given the embedded fee pool.

On the risk side, investors should watch redemption trends in retail-oriented vehicles, borrower-quality signals in private credit, and expense levels versus the firm’s expectation for only modest operating leverage. Currently, OWL has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In the broader alternative manager group, peers like Blackstone Inc. BX and KKR & Co. Inc. KKR also emphasize long-duration fee streams and diversified product sets. At present, both Blackstone and KKR & Co. carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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