LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA)
Fair ValueFundamental
47
Price
$305.80
Market Cap
$23.84B
Part 1 · What the company is worth
Overview
LPL Financial does not manage anyone's money itself; it provides the technology, compliance infrastructure and custody services that let independent financial advisors run their own practices under LPL's broker-dealer license. Roughly 29,000 advisors and about 1,200 banks and credit unions use LPL's platform to serve their own clients, while LPL earns money from the assets that flow through that platform rather than from advising investors directly, or picking any investment on their behalf.
How it makes money
LPL earns four main kinds of revenue: commissions when advisors' clients buy investment products, advisory fees based on a percentage of assets in fee-based accounts, asset-based revenue including fees on client cash held in sweep programs, and transaction and other service fees. Because advisory and asset-based fees scale with the market value of client accounts, LPL's revenue rises and falls with the stock and bond markets even though it does not itself pick any investments.
Competitive moat
Switching costs · NarrowAn advisor who builds a practice on LPL's technology, compliance workflow and client account infrastructure over years faces real cost and disruption in moving that practice, and its clients' accounts, to a rival platform. That friction gives LPL some pricing power and sticky revenue, but advisors do switch when a competitor offers meaningfully better economics, so the advantage is real without being decisive.
What drives demand
CyclicalAdvisory and asset-based revenue move with the market value of client portfolios, so a market decline reduces LPL's fees even if no client sells anything, and a rally lifts revenue the same way. Revenue from cash sweep programs adds another swing factor tied to interest rates rather than markets, so LPL's results respond to both stock market moves and central bank policy.
Key risks
- Revenue tied to market values — A significant share of revenue is based on the market value of client assets, so a sustained market decline reduces LPL's fees directly, independent of anything the company does operationally.
- Advisor recruiting and retention — LPL's growth has depended on attracting and keeping productive advisors, and losing advisors to competing platforms, or failing to recruit new ones, would directly reduce the assets flowing through the business.
- Interest rate sensitivity of cash sweep revenue — Fees earned on client cash held in sweep programs depend on prevailing interest rates, and this revenue has declined in the past during low-rate periods and could decline again if rates fall or clients move cash elsewhere.
- Technology and cybersecurity risk — Advisors and their clients depend on LPL's technology platform to operate, and a significant outage or cybersecurity incident would disrupt advisor practices and expose sensitive client data.
The case for
Buyers argue that LPL keeps taking market share as more advisors leave large wirehouses for independence, that its scale lets it spread compliance and technology costs over a growing advisor base, and that recurring advisory fees give the business a more predictable revenue base than a traditional brokerage.
The case against
Sellers worry that a large share of revenue still moves mechanically with the stock market and interest rates rather than with anything LPL controls, that competition for productive advisors keeps recruiting and retention costs high, and that a serious technology failure could damage trust across thousands of independent practices at once.
Written by the editors, published on August 18, 2026
Direct competitors
Who this company fights with for the same customers
Generated on September 19, 2026 with claude-haiku-4-5 — shared with all users
Ameriprise runs the second-largest independent advisor franchise in the United States and competes with LPL for the same self-employed financial advisors and their retail client assets.
Raymond James Financial Services is the affiliation option LPL most often loses advisors to and wins them from, serving the same independent-advisor and mass-affluent client segment.
Schwab Advisor Services is the leading custodian for registered investment advisers and competes directly with LPL's RIA custody platform for breakaway advisors.
Osaic is the other large roll-up of independent broker-dealer networks and recruits from the same pool of advisors leaving wirehouses and smaller firms.
Named by LPL in its own 10-K as a competitor in the independent broker-dealer channel, Cetera offers the same clearing, custody and practice-support platform to independent advisors.
Cambridge is a privately held independent broker-dealer that LPL names in its 10-K, competing for the same fee-based advisory practices in the mid-size independent market.
Balance Sheet & Liquidity
Revenue
$19.61B
Trailing 12 months (through 6/30/2026)
Net Income
$1.01B
Trailing 12 months (through 6/30/2026)
Free Cash Flow
$-982M
Total Equity
$5.34B
Total Liabilities
$13.15B
Current Ratio
2.30
Interest Coverage
-
Debt/EBITDA
-
Earnings Per Share
Revenue & Net Income
Free Cash Flow
Income Breakdown
Historical statement
Margins over time
Debt over time
How heavy the debt is
Growth grid
Growth — Revenue
Fair Value Estimation
Fair Value
$407.08
Current Price
$305.80
Margin of Safety
+24.9%
Fair Value Range
$264.60 - $549.56
Spread across the valuation methods used, not a statistically calibrated confidence interval.
Estimation Methods
Valuation Metrics
P/E Ratio
24.56
ROE
16.1%
P/B Ratio
4.18
P/FCF
-
Gross Margin
-
ROIC
-
Profitability Radar
Value Creation (Economic Moat)
ROIC
-
WACC
7.1%
ROIC − WACC
-
Fundamental Analysis Criteria
Passed (10)
- EPS shows upward trend
- EPS CAGR 21.73%
- Price CAGR 24.00%
- Debt/Equity ratio
- Return on Tangible Assets
- ROE 18.4%
- Revenue Growth 5Y 23.7%
- Analyst Consensus 83% Buy
- Earnings Surprise avg 7.8%
- PEG Ratio 1.78
Failed (9)
- P/B Ratio 4.18
- Positive Free Cash Flow
- Low reliance on intangibles
- Price below Graham Number
- DCF valuation (Overvalued)
- Earnings Quality (OCF/NI) -0.25
- Share Dilution 4.7%
- Net Margin Trend 5.1% vs 7.9%
- Piotroski F-Score 2/9
Unavailable (9)
- ROIC NaN%
- Gross Margin NaN%
- P/FCF NaN
- Dividend Payout NaN%
- Operating Margin NaN%
- CapEx intensity
- Current Ratio
- Interest Coverage
- Debt/EBITDA
Piotroski F-Score
Serious financial concerns
Earnings Quality
Low quality: investigate accounting
Share Dilution
Issuing new shares, diluting ownership
Institutional Holdings
Governance
Executive Team
| Name | Title | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Richard Steinmeier | CEO & Director | 51 |
| Mr. Matthew Jon Audette B.S. | President & CFO | 50 |
| Mr. Matthew K. Enyedi | MD & Chief Client Officer | 51 |
| Ms. Aneri Jambusaria CFP | Group MD & Chief Wealth Officer | 41 |
| Mr. Greg Gates | Group MD and Chief Product & Technology Officer | 48 |
| Ms. Judith Kohoskie Ricketts | Executive Vice President of Operations | - |
| Mr. Marc Andrew Zabicki C.F.A. | Chief Investment Officer | - |
| Ms. Katharine Reeping | Senior VP, Controller & Chief Accounting Officer | 47 |
| Mr. Jonathan Lewis | Chief Technology & Information Officer | - |
| Mr. Matthew Edwin Morningstar J.D. | Group MD & Chief Legal Officer | 49 |
Audit Risk
2
Board Risk
1
Compensation Risk
1
Shareholder Rights Risk
3
Part 2 · The price and when to enter
This part won't tell you whether the company is worth owning: it helps you choose when to buy it, once the fundamentals have convinced you. Inside: technical analysis, potential, historical drawdowns, gamma exposure.
Documents
- View document
Annual Report (10-K)
A yearly overview of the business, its financial results, and the risks it faces.
Filed on 2026-02-23
- View document
Quarterly Report (10-Q)
A snapshot of financial performance for the most recent three-month period.
Filed on 2026-08-03
- View document
Current Report (8-K)
An announcement of a major event, such as a leadership change or big news.
Filed on 2026-07-30
via SEC EDGAR
Income History
via SEC EDGAR
Latest News
Recent headlines for LPLA, sourced from Markets Gazette.
- 2/26/2026POSITIVE$100 Invested In LPL Finl Hldgs 15 Years Ago Would Be Worth This Much Today
A retrospective analysis indicates that a $100 investment in LPL Financial Holdings made 15 years ago would have yielded significant capital appreciation by today. While the exact return figures are not detailed in the provided snippet, the implication points to robust and sustained long-term growth. This data underscores the company's ability to create shareholder value over a decade and a half, potentially reflecting sound management, an effective business strategy, and market resilience. For investors, this could signal a history of stability and reliable return potential, positioning LPL Financial Holdings as an attractive option for those focused on long-term performance.
via Markets Gazette