New York (HedgeCo.net) – Investment management firm BlackRock Inc reported earnings yesterday and while the earnings came up short of last year’s numbers, they did beat analyst earnings per share and revenue estimates.

BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, credited the revenue gain to an increase in fixed-income ETF business through their iShares funds and a specific hedge fund that the company did not name.

In all, the company saw an increase in its performance fees of $75 million as a result of the hedge fund. On the ETF side, the company reported $23.3 billion in new money in the iShares funds. The company pointed out that 79% of the new money was dedicated to fixed-income products.

While most of the news was positive, the total assets under management for the firm fell from $4.72 trillion to $4.51 trillion in the third quarter. With world equity markets falling sharply during the quarter, a decline in assets of 5% doesn’t seem too bad. Investors must have felt that way as well as the stock gained 2.33% on the day while the overall market fell.

Rick Pendergraft
Research Analyst
HedgeCoVest