Baird 2024 Annual ReportSTABILITY.
CONSISTENCY.
STRENGTH.
A Message From Steve Booth
In each of my 30 years at Baird, the ever-changing macroeconomic landscape and forward-looking financial markets have presented unique challenges and tremendous opportunities for our clients, associates and firm. The dynamic environment of the last few years was no exception, and our clients once again benefited from Baird’s ongoing stability, consistency and strength. The powerful combination of our independent ownership, deep expertise and unwavering focus on what is best for our clients and our associates has helped Baird achieve more than four decades of consistent growth and profitability. It also made 2024 one of our most successful years ever.
At the heart of the “Baird Difference” are our extraordinary people and the shared values and cultural beliefs that unite us. Each and every associate contributes to our success. It is our people and our culture that have been most responsible for our stability, consistency and strength. Over time, these factors have combined to build valuable and strategic intangible assets for Baird: the collective trust and confidence that our clients have in our associates and our firm, and the collective trust, confidence and pride that our associates have in our firm and each other.
While other firms scaled back their teams and services in recent years due to various headwinds and uncertainties, we kept our teams together and made additional investments in our people and capabilities to position our businesses to best serve our clients today and, more importantly, into the future. This steadfast commitment to consistently investing for the longer term was key to our strong business results in 2024.
Our ongoing success is also due to our uniquely stable employee-ownership structure and the independence it gives us. Without distractions or short-term pressures from outside shareholders, we can maintain a long-term focus on our clients’ and our associates’ best interests – especially in the face of the inevitable and sometimes significant volatility inherent in our served markets. We are very proud that approximately 80% of Baird’s more than 5,300 associates are now shareholders while the 19 senior leaders composing our executive committee collectively own approximately 10% of the firm. This gives each of our employee shareholders a meaningful, truly personal stake in the long-term success of the firm and our clients.
Business Highlights
The stability, consistency and strength of Baird’s collective expertise helped make 2024 one of our best years ever. Client assets – the most tangible indicator of the trust we value so highly – grew to nearly $500 billion. In conjunction with this growth, we generated record revenues over $3.5 billion and $674 million in operating income.
Underpinning our firmwide results, each of Baird’s five complementary business units performed well by capitalizing on emergent opportunities, investing further in their capabilities and technology, and delivering exceptional advice and service to clients.
Private Wealth Management had a record year driven by positive market performance and client satisfaction with the comprehensive wealth management advice we offered by Baird’s more than 1,300 Financial Advisors. Assets in client accounts ended 2024 at $334 billion while revenues increased 14% over 2023. More clients took advantage of the expanding reach and capabilities of Baird Trust, our wholly owned trust company. Services provided by Baird Trust include trust administration, estate settlement and investment services to help clients transfer their wealth in a way that reflects their vision and values for the future. The strength of our Private Wealth Management offerings was also bolstered by significant ongoing investments in both our client and advisor-facing technologies.
Our Asset Management businesses achieved record revenues of more than $419 million, a 20% increase from 2023. This success was led by Baird Advisors, our fixed income asset management business, which continued to produce strong and consistent relative investment performance for our clients, resulting in continued significant net inflows that led to a 21% increase in fixed income assets under management to nearly $160 billion. Baird Equity Asset Management assets under management grew to nearly $11 billion, led by increasing interest in its Specialized Asset Management offerings and in the Baird Chautauqua International and Global mutual funds. Of our 15 bond and equity mutual funds, four bond funds held Gold Morningstar Medalist Ratings™. Additionally, four funds – the Baird Chautauqua International Growth Fund, Baird Intermediate Bond Fund, Baird Municipal Bond Fund and Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund – each received a 5-Star Overall Morningstar Rating™, and seven funds – the Baird Aggregate Bond Fund, Baird Chautauqua Global Growth Fund, Baird Core Intermediate Municipal Bond Fund, Baird Core Plus Bond Fund, Baird Short-Term Bond Fund, Baird Short-Term Municipal Bond Fund and Baird Ultra Short Bond Fund – each received a 4-Star Overall Morningstar Rating™.1
Fixed Income Capital Markets maintained solid momentum with revenues up nearly 6% at $214 million, driven by an increase in sales and trading revenues. Public Finance also finished 2024 up slightly, posting another record year in a recent string of record annual revenues. Our ongoing investments in specialized Public Finance expertise and capabilities enabled us to deepen existing and build new client relationships with municipalities across the country. Notably, in December, Baird was once again recognized as the No. 1 Municipal Bond Underwriter in the U.S. by number of issues.2
In Equity Capital Markets, revenues increased by 41% to over $720 million. Global Investment Banking (GIB) led this growth, achieving its second-best year ever with 60% growth in M&A advisory revenues, which benefited from multi-year investments in the depth and breadth of the advisory platform. Our exceptional 2024 results included advising on 125 announced M&A transactions with an average value of $434 million, and we are confident our business is positioned well for what looks to be continued strengthening in the M&A environment. Meanwhile, Global Equities also grew revenues approximately 10% year-over-year, marking the third-best year in its history. Other highlights included significant additions of new expertise to our team while once again earning high rankings for our equity research. TipRanks listed 16 of our Senior Research Analysts among the top 5% of all analysts on Wall Street and an additional six Baird analysts ranked among the top 10%.3 Strategas, a Baird Company, was recognized for the eighth consecutive year in Extel’s 2024 All-America Research Team survey as the highest-ranked provider of exclusively macro research, preceded only by providers of both macro and bottom-up research.4
Principal Investments saw a significant rebound in performance vs. 2023. Collectively, Baird Capital, Baird Principal Group and Strategic Investments achieved a 100% increase in investment gains. Baird Capital’s Global Funds realized significant investment gains from strong exits, and the business was able to distribute $200 million back to its investors. Strategic investments in RiverFront Investment Group and Greenhouse Funds contributed to this success through strong performance as well.
Our Corporate Resource Groups also had a successful year providing exceptional services and support to our businesses. Over 1,000 associates work across these groups which include Information Technology, Operations, Finance, Human Resources, Compliance, Marketing & Communications, Legal, Corporate Events & Travel, Risk Management, Corporate Real Estate and Workplace Solutions, Hospitality, Conference Services, Culture, the Strategic Change Office and Baird Foundation. These groups are the backbone for Baird’s business lines and through their partnership and exceptional service, they are key to Baird’s ongoing growth and success in serving our clients.
Baird’s client assets were more than $490 billion at the end of 2024, an increase of more than 240% over the past decade.
Client assets include brokerage and advisory client assets.
Our stock value has increased more than 300% over the past 10 years.
Book value and dividends have been restated to reflect any previous stock splits.
Note: Baird stock performance is based on the change in book value per share for Baird Financial Group common stock and includes cumulative cash dividends. Baird stock returns do not assume dividend reinvestment. Baird is privately held and no public market exists for its shares. Baird can repurchase shares of Baird stock at book value when associates leave the firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
1 Morningstar Medalist Ratings™ as of February 2025. Morningstar individual fund ratings are as of December 31, 2024. All ratings are representative of the Institutional share class.
See "Additional Disclosures" below for important information about Morningstar ratings.
2 Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence Muni Deal Query as of December 31, 2024. Does not include Private Placements or Notes.
3 As of January 7, 2025. See “Additional Disclosures” below for details on TipRanks’ methodology.
4 As of June 3, 2024. See “Additional Disclosures” below for for details on Extel’s methodology.
Other Highlights
Beyond our business results, Baird’s stability, consistency and strength were also evident in several other important milestones for our firm, associates and communities this past year.
An essential element of Baird’s unique culture is our commitment to making Baird a truly great workplace for our associates, and 2024 marked our 21st consecutive year among the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For®.1 We also ranked No. 1 on Pensions and Investment’s Best Places to Work in Money Management in our 13th consecutive year on their list. Repeat recognitions like these help us consistently attract incredibly talented professionals and let us be selective, hiring only those who share our cultural commitment to clients and each other. We know this is why so many of our associates stay with us their entire careers, helping to ensure the consistency of our important client relationships and the continued quality of the advice and service they deserve.
In May, we celebrated the grand opening of the newly expanded 1.3 million square foot Baird Center, Wisconsin’s largest and now world-class convention and event center. This marked the activation of our exclusive 15-year naming rights agreement – a strategic and foundational investment in the future of Milwaukee, where our firm was founded and has been headquartered for more than a century and a city that has become a growing business and cultural destination. By the end of 2024, the renovated Baird Center had already hosted 25% more events and conferences than it did in 2023, and we know it will continue to attract new business and events to our hometown while elevating our brand for audiences from across the country for many years to come.
Thanks to our shared cultural commitment to giving back, the Baird Foundation, Baird’s business units and associates from across the firm gave more than $22 million in 2024 to qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations. This includes Baird Foundation matches of associate gifts and direct contributions to a wide variety of associate-led philanthropic efforts throughout the communities in which Baird operates.
One of the most personal of Baird’s philanthropic efforts to me and many of us at Baird is the Paul Purcell “Kids Win!” Annual Baird Education Grant. Named after our beloved former Chairman, Paul was passionate about underserved childhood education and helping “Kids Win!” by supporting efforts that target their unique localized needs and situations. The initiative, launched in 2020 to commemorate Paul’s passing, has exceeded all of our expectations. By the end of 2024, the fund endowment surpassed $21 million and more than $4 million had been distributed to incredibly deserving educational entities in Baird served communities across the United States.
Finally, Baird was proud to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our first major step onto the international stage. Our merger with London-based merchant bank Granville, plc. in 1999 brought international reach to Baird’s investment banking and private equity businesses at a time when our M&A and private equity clients were seeking greater access to European markets in the wake of the European Union’s formation earlier in the decade. Twenty-five years later, London is a vital hub for our investment banking, capital markets and private equity businesses and, together with our Frankfurt investment banking office, a key element of the global strength and services we offer our clients.
1From Fortune. ©2024 Fortune Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Fortune and Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® are registered trademarks of Fortune Media IP Limited and are used under license. Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of, Baird
Looking Forward
While we are understandably proud of the firm’s performance in 2024, we are excited about the possibilities for our clients and our firm in 2025 and already looking forward to two milestones. In the spring, Baird Advisors will mark 25 years since joining the firm, throughout which they have been a model of stability, consistency and strength. Then, this summer associates from across our international footprint will gather in Milwaukee for our RE:Union event, where we will celebrate each other and the great outcomes we create together for our clients and the firm.
We know this year will present its own challenges and opportunities. But we are confident that Baird’s employee-owned structure and complementary balance of high-quality businesses with diversified revenues will continue to provide the stability, consistency and financial strength our clients and associates rely on.
Whatever the future brings, we will be there, continually reinvesting in the people, expertise and technologies necessary to serve our clients best and ready to advise those clients when they need us most. And you can trust that we will stay true to the culture and values that have consistently guided all we do since our founding in 1919.
Steve Booth, Chairman & CEO
