While I purchased a lot of fantastic stocks this past year, the stock I'm most excited about owning is Blackstone (BX 0.09%). This ultra-high-yield dividend stock has fallen 42% this year despite the company achieving record earnings and paying an attractive 6.4% dividend yield -- almost four times that of the S&P 500.
The general bear market and pessimistic outlook for macroeconomic conditions mean its current share price isn't representative of its explosive upside potential. Here's a closer look at why I think this stock could soar in 2023 and why I feel it's one of the best buys in the market today.
Interest in alternative assets is growing
Blackstone is the largest alternative asset management company in the world, managing more than $951 billion in assets for wealthy individuals, insurance companies, and institutional investors. Interest in alternative assets has exploded during the past few years as investors seek higher returns in today's challenging economy, a trend I see continuing for the foreseeable future.
Diversification is an extremely important part of investing. And Blackstone offers exposure to industries like real estate, technology, life sciences, infrastructure, debt equity, and credit, which many investors don't have specific knowledge of or access to. Blackstone's investments, including its private real estate investment trust (REIT), BREIT, are some of the top-performing funds in the industry despite growing concerns in the marketplace.
Blackstone is built for all seasons
Weakening conditions in the real estate market recently prompted a growing number of BREIT investors to request withdrawals from the fund. In early December 2022, redemption requests had exceeded the 5% quarterly limit, leading Blackstone to deny and further redemption requests. The stock has fallen 9% since the announcement.
I personally don't believe these concerns are warranted. BREIT just announced it's exiting a joint venture with fellow REIT VICI Properties, which increases its cash position and puts it in a much stronger position for a housing market correction. It's also important for investors to remember that Blackstone has experienced its share of downturns and challenging economic periods in its 37 years of operation.
It withstood high inflation in the '80s and the dot-com bubble in the '90s, and its initial public offering took place just before the start of one of the deepest recessions and housing market corrections in our country's history. Not only did Blackstone survive the Great Recession, it came out ahead thanks to its opportunistic investment where it bought more than $10 billion on real estate at rock bottom prices and turning them into turn-key rental properties.
Certain economic conditions prove more challenging than others. But Blackstone should be able to rebound quickly if the economy enters a recession in 2023. It has plenty of cash on hand to cover its debt obligations and maintain its juicy dividend payouts, in addition to having about $182 billion in dry powder ready to deploy on opportunistic investments.
It's trading at its 52-week low
The recent Federal Reserve announcement on top of the recent BREIT news has pushed the stock down to its 52-week low, which of course is one reason its yield is relatively high. The share now trades at about 21 times earnings, which is slightly higher than its asset management peers and on the high end of the spectrum for most price-to-earnings ratios. But it isn't out of line if we look toward its forward price-to-earnings ratio, which is about 15.
The private wealth market is estimated to be in the trillions of dollars, much of which isn't invested in alternative assets. If Blackstone can continue to prove itself as a leading alternative asset management company and deliver market-beating returns, its assets under management and, in turn, fee-related earnings could grow substantially in 2023 and beyond. This is a stock I plan to hold for the long term to benefit from the growth of the alternative asset industry.
