Carlyle has gotten torched over the last six months - since December 2025, its stock price has dropped 24.3% to $44.16 per share. This was partly driven by its softer quarterly results and might have investors contemplating their next move.
Is now the time to buy Carlyle, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Dive into our full research report to see our analyst team’s opinion, it’s free.
Why Do We Think Carlyle Will Underperform?
Despite the more favorable entry price, we don’t have much confidence in Carlyle. Here are two reasons you should be careful with CG, plus one stock we’d rather own.
1. Revenue Growth Flatlining
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a stretched historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. Carlyle’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its revenue was flat over the last two years. 
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.
2. Recent EPS Growth Below Our Standards
Although long-term earnings trends give us the big picture, we like to analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.
Carlyle’s EPS grew at a weak 2.1% compounded annual growth rate over the last two years. On the bright side, this performance was higher than its flat revenue and tells us management responded to softer demand by adapting its cost structure.
Final Judgment
We see the value of companies driving economic growth, but in the case of Carlyle, we’re out. After the recent drawdown, the stock trades at 10× forward P/E (or $44.16 per share). This valuation tells us it’s a bit of a market darling with a lot of good news priced in - we think there are better stocks to buy right now. We’d suggest looking at a top digital advertising platform riding the creator economy.
Stocks We Would Buy Instead of Carlyle
ONE MORE THING: Top 5 Growth Stocks. The biggest stock winners almost always had one thing in common before they ran. Revenue growing like crazy. Meta. CrowdStrike. Broadcom. Our AI flagged all three. They returned 315%, 314%, and 455%, respectively.
Find out which 5 stocks it’s flagging this month — FREE. Get Our Top 5 Growth Stocks for Free HERE.
Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
