PIMCO Outflows ‘Staggering’ Amid Gross Exit: Morningstar

In November 2014, just over a month after Bill Gross left PIMCO for Janus Capital, Morningstar estimated that PIMCO could withstand $350 billion in outflows over three years without seriously reducing its profit margins or being forced to rethink its structure. Through March, PIMCO’s outflows have totaled $290 billion and operating margins had fallen from 37% to 33%. While Morningstar is ‘cautiously optimistic,’ about PIMCO’s future, the fallout from Gross’ departure was much worse than they had expected.

“Outflows following Gross’ departure have been staggering,” writes Morningstar director of fixed-income strategies Michael Herbst. “Even assuming that the firm’s assets under management have stabilized now, we expect PIMCO’s overall profitability would continue to decline in 2015.”