Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) Beats Q3 2026 Sales Expectations

Financial services company Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q3 2026, with sales up 13% year on year to $2.29 billion. Its GAAP profit of $3.40 per share was 19.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Founded in 1889 during Chicago's post-Great Fire rebuilding boom, Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) provides wealth management, asset servicing, and banking solutions to corporations, institutions, families, and high-net-worth individuals globally.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Over the last five years, Northern Trust grew its revenue at a mediocre 7% compounded annual growth rate. This fell short of our benchmark for the financials sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. Northern Trust’s annualized revenue growth of 10.1% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting some bright spots. Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers because they were impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.

This quarter, Northern Trust reported year-on-year revenue growth of 13%, and its $2.29 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.3%.

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Assets Under Management (AUM)

Assets Under Management (AUM) represents the total value of investments that a financial institution manages for its clients. These assets generate steady income through management fees, creating predictable revenue streams that remain stable so long as clients remain invested with the firm.

Northern Trust’s AUM has grown at an annual rate of 4.9% over the last five years, worse than the broader financials industry and slower than its total revenue. When analyzing Northern Trust’s AUM over the last two years, we can see that growth accelerated to 11.2% annually. Fundraising or short-term investment performance was a net contributor for the company over this shorter period since assets grew faster than total revenue. Just remember that while assets are relevant to watch, we don’t place too much emphasis on them because they ebb and flow with the market.

In Q3, Northern Trust’s AUM was $1.96 trillion, falling 1.4% short of analysts’ expectations. This print was 10.7% higher than the same quarter last year.

Key Takeaways from Northern Trust’s Q3 Results

It was good to see Northern Trust beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its AUM slightly missed. Zooming out, we think this was a solid print. The stock remained flat at $164.00 immediately following the results.

Big picture, is Northern Trust a buy here and now? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).