BLK vs SCHW: BlackRock vs Charles Schwab Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager built on iShares ETF passive investing flows and Aladdin technology, while Schwab is an integrated brokerage-banking company earning fee and NII income from retail investors and RIA custody clients. BlackRock earns management fees from AUM; Schwab earns NII from client cash alongside brokerage commissions.
BLK vs SCHW is ETF passive investing AUM compounder with alternatives expansion versus integrated brokerage-banking NII recovery story — BlackRock wins if passive investing flows and Aladdin technology compound with GIP alternatives growth; Schwab wins if client cash returns to bank deposits normalizing NII and TD integration delivers synergies.
SCHW holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. SCHW leads on both 1-year return (-1.55%) and forward P/E quality (14.11x vs 18.11x for BLK), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, BLK is growing revenue faster (30.60%), while SCHW maintains the higher operating margin (52.28%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +13.43% for BLK and +13.43% for SCHW.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- want the world's largest ETF platform with iShares as the dominant passive investing franchise
- value Aladdin's SaaS-like financial infrastructure revenue across thousands of institutional clients
- prefer management fee-based revenue that grows with equity market appreciation and net flows
- believe GIP infrastructure acquisition adds meaningful alternatives AUM at premium fee rates
- want integrated brokerage-banking exposure with NII recovery potential as client cash sorting normalizes
- value Schwab Advisor Services as the largest RIA custodian with durable independent advisor relationships
- believe TD Ameritrade integration will deliver long-term technology and client scale benefits
- prefer a lower-valuation financial services company with NII upside vs BlackRock's premium asset management multiple
| Metric | BLK | SCHW |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 52.5 | 51.6 |
| AI ranki | #350 | #359 |
| Latest closei | $1,134.38 | $91.96 |
| 1M returni | +9.37% | -12.55% |
| 3M returni | +5.80% | -9.45% |
| 6M returni | +7.82% | -0.35% |
| 1Y returni | -3.16% | -1.55% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | BLK | SCHW |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $9.77K (-2.3%) started 2025-10-17 | $9.77K (-2.3%) started 2025-10-17 |
| 5Y ago | $15.22K (+52.2%) started 2021-10-18 | $12.67K (+26.7%) started 2021-10-18 |
| 10Y ago | $50.32K (+403.2%) started 2016-10-17 | $36.58K (+265.8%) started 2016-10-17 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | BLK | SCHW |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $189.2B | $190.5B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 27.93 | 20.07 |
| Forward P/Ei | 18.11 | 14.11 |
| Price/Salesi | 7.31 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 6.90 | 6.77 |
| Analyst targeti | $1,320.81 | $124.95 |
| Target upsidei | +13.43% | +13.43% |
| Metric | BLK | SCHW |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 30.60% | 20.90% |
| Earnings growthi | 19.60% | 42.60% |
| EPS growthi | +19.60% | +42.60% |
| FCF margini | +27.76% | N/A |
| Operating margini | 35.08% | 52.28% |
| Profit margini | 24.09% | 38.79% |
| ROIC proxyi | 12.28% | 20.27% |
| Return on equityi | 12.28% | 20.27% |
| Dividend yieldi | 1.97% | 1.16% |
| Payout ratioi | 52.37% | 21.49% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.43 | 0.75 |
| Debt/equityi | 23.19 | 151.11 |
| Current ratioi | 2.45 | 0.66 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.85 | 0.66 |
Over the past year, BLK and SCHW have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.40), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | BLK | SCHW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -2.31% | -2.32% |
| CAGRi | -2.31% | -2.32% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.43% | 25.30% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.11 | -0.14 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.16 | -0.18 | |
| Max drawdowni | 20.66% | 20.39% | |
| Current drawdowni | 4.10% | 19.08% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 8.75% | 7.85% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 9.84% | 10.00% | |
| Max daily dropi | 7.69% | 7.63% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 10.83% | 13.18% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +38.50% | +20.18% |
| CAGRi | +6.74% | +3.75% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.09% | 31.88% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.21 | 0.14 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.31 | 0.19 | |
| Max drawdowni | 43.90% | 49.70% | |
| Current drawdowni | 5.67% | 19.08% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 15.76% | 18.74% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 19.10% | 22.94% | |
| Max daily dropi | 7.71% | 12.77% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.63% | 32.23% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +296.54% | +224.77% |
| CAGRi | +14.77% | +12.50% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.91% | 33.14% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.47 | 0.39 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.68 | 0.55 | |
| Max drawdowni | 43.90% | 51.08% | |
| Current drawdowni | 5.67% | 19.08% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.90% | 17.15% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.76% | 21.85% | |
| Max daily dropi | 13.65% | 12.77% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 18.26% | 32.23% |
| Category | BLK | SCHW |
|---|---|---|
| Company | BlackRock, Inc. | The Charles Schwab Corporation |
| Sector | Financial Services | Financial Services |
| Industry | Asset Management | Capital Markets |
| Core business | World's largest asset manager with $11T+ AUM across iShares ETFs, active funds, alternatives, and Aladdin technology. BlackRock primarily earns management fees rather than interest income. | Full-service financial services company with retail brokerage, banking, RIA custody, and robo-advisory. Schwab earns revenue from commissions, advisory fees, and net interest income from banking activities and cash sweep. |
| Investor focus | iShares net flow growth, private markets expansion (GIP infrastructure), Aladdin technology subscriptions, and operating leverage at scale. | NII recovery as client cash moves from money market funds back to bank deposits, client asset growth, TD Ameritrade integration, and financial advisor custody market share. |
- iShares ETFs benefit from the secular shift to passive investing — BlackRock receives management fees on growing AUM
- Aladdin's risk management platform is used by thousands of institutions worldwide as critical infrastructure — highly sticky SaaS-like revenue
- GIP infrastructure acquisition adds alternatives AUM at a premium fee rate vs passive ETF management fees
- Schwab's integrated brokerage-banking model creates a large cash sweep NII revenue stream that recovers materially when rates normalize client behavior
- Schwab Advisor Services is the largest RIA custodian in the US — a dominant, high-retention business serving independent advisors
- Brand trust with retail investors makes Schwab the default account for long-term retail portfolios across demographics
- ETF management fee compression is ongoing — BlackRock grows through volume, not unit pricing
- Active management flows continue to decline toward passive alternatives, pressuring non-iShares fee rates
- Competition from Vanguard in index funds and State Street in institutional ETFs on the lowest-cost products
- Client cash sorting into money market funds significantly reduced Schwab's NII and earnings in 2022-2023 — reversal timing uncertain
- TD Ameritrade integration complexity has taken longer than expected and created technology challenges
- Fidelity competes aggressively in retail brokerage and RIA custody at similar or lower cost
Compare more than two at a time
This page is a fixed writeup on BLK and SCHW. Our comparison engine is the interactive version: load up to five tickers, switch timeframes, and get the correlation, drawdown, and overlap analysis that a static page can't show.
Add three more names beside BLK and SCHW, mixing stocks and ETFs in the same table — useful when the real question is which of a whole peer group to own.
AI score, forward P/E, analyst target upside, operating margin, and revenue growth are scored head-to-head, with a running tally of which ticker leads on how many metrics.
Volatility, Sharpe and Sortino ratios, maximum, current, and average drawdown, Ulcer Index, and worst single-day and single-week drops across every timeframe.
Pairwise daily-return correlation for every combination, so you can see whether two holdings actually diversify each other or just move together.
A scatter plot of forward P/E against return on equity, plus drawdown and 30-day rolling volatility charts, to separate what is cheap from what is merely beaten down.
For ETFs, a top-holdings comparison that exposes hidden overlap between funds. Every comparison exports to CSV for your own spreadsheet work.
Two comparisons a week are free without an account. A 14-day trial removes the limit and adds AI price forecasts, stock rankings, saved watchlists, and the intrinsic value calculator — no credit card required.
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Full valuation workup with AI Score, Monte Carlo forecast, and bull/bear case — free preview, premium data from $3.99.