The results were in line with Wall Street expectations but accentuated the difficulties asset managers face as markets decline and investors sell risky holdings and buy safer instruments.
BlackRock posted quarterly net income of $84 million, or 62 cents a share, compared with $241 million, or $1.77 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 24 percent to $987 million.
Stripping out restructuring charges and other items, BlackRock earned 81 cents a share, matching analysts' average forecast, according to Reuters Estimates.
Assets under management fell 6 percent from a year earlier, to $1.283 trillion.
BlackRock shares have suffered less than the broader market this year. The shares have fallen 2.2 percent so far in 2009, compared with a 4.6 decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The shares closed at $123.59 on Monday.
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U.S. Bancorp Profit Slumps on Loan Losses
U.S. Bancorp , one of the 10 largest U.S. banks, reported better-than-expected quarterly results despite rising loan losses that caused profit to slump more than 60 percent.
The strong mortgage activity helped to offset losses from lease financing, construction and development loans, and credit cards.
The bank also put aside $1.3 billion for loan losses, $833 million more than a year earlier, as declining home prices affected both consumer and commercial loan portfolios.
Profit for common shareholders fell to $419 million, or 24 cents per share, from $1.08 billion, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier, the bank said on Tuesday. Analysts, on average, expected the Minneapolis-based company to earn 20 cents a share.
The bank put aside $1.3 billion for loan losses, $833 million more than a year earlier, as declining home prices affected both consumer and commercial loan portfolios.
"Credit costs continued to rise this quarter—an expected consequence of the weak economy and the primary contributor to the reduction in net income year-over-year,'' Chief Executive Richard Davis said.
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U.S. Bancorp also lost $198 million from an investment in a large domestic bank's perpetual preferred stock, after that bank was downgraded in the quarter.
The bank's mix of businesses is less directly exposed to the health of consumer borrowers than that at many rivals.
At Monday's close, the stock had fallen 36 percent this year.
Forest Earnings Down
Forest Laboratories said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell as lower sales of its antidepressant Lexapro eroded higher sales of its drugs for Alzheimer's disease and hypertension.
Net profit in the quarter ended March 31, 2009 fell to $92.8 million, or 31 cents a share, from $172.8 million, or 55 cents a share a year ago. Revenue fell to $965.5 million from $990.9 million a year ago. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 76 cents a share. Analysts had on average expected earnings of 75 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
The company took a charge of 45 cents a share related to an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the company's promotional activities.
The company said it expects earnings in the year ended March 31, 2010, of $3.45 to $3.55 a share and revenue of about $4.1 billion. Analysts had on average forecast fiscal 2010 earnings of $3.50 a share on revenue of $4.2 billion.
Net sales for the quarter slipped to $896.7 million, from $898.7 million a year ago.
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KeyCorp Loss Wider Than Expected
KeyCorp , the Ohio-based regional bank, posted a wider-than-expected loss on Tuesday, due to mounting loan loss reserves as the credit environment deteriorated, and cut its quarterly dividend.