Blackrock (BLK) Continues to Be a Safe Haven in Financials

Blackrock (BLK) simply continues to impress me. Another stellar earnings out this morning.

• BlackRock Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings surged as investors shifted money to safer harbors and increasingly sought financial advice amid the ongoing credit crisis, the investment management firm said Thursday.
• Adjusted earnings rose to $2.52 per share from $1.61 per share last year. Analysts, whose estimates typically exclude items, expected $2.15 per share, according to Thomson Financial. (now, that's a BEAT!)
• Revenue surged 42 percent to $1.44 billion from $1.02 billion last year. Analysts forecast $1.31 billion. Investment and advisory fees rose 34 percent to $1.16 billion, and advisory performance fees nearly quadrupled to $152.7 million.
• For the year, net income surged to $995.3 million, or $7.53 per share, from $322.6 million, or $3.87 per share at the end of 2006. Revenue more than doubled to $4.85 billion.
• BlackRock had $1.36 trillion in assets under management at the end of the year, up $57.1 billion from Sept. 31. Investors shifted money to the firm and investments considered to be safe as the crisis on the debt markets started taking out value on the equities market.

The other good news is Merrill Lynch (MER) which is struggling and constantly looking for foreign handouts, is *NOT* selling any portion of it's 49% stake in Blackrock. Considering how putrid their cash situation is, that speaks a lot.

• Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain said Thursday that the firm's stake in asset manager BlackRock is worth about $13 billion, but it is not for sale. "It (BlackRock) remains a strategic asset from my perspective. It is not something we would look to sell," Thain said on a conference call with analysts on Thursday. As Merrill, like other banks, continues to raise much-needed capital following bad debt investments, many have speculated that it sell assets like BlackRock.

Now, all this growth is not organic due to acquisitions but in a sea of pain in financials, Blackrock is simply stellar. A rock. I only hope they can hold onto their CEO as this type of performance should have other financial firms knocking over the door to get to Mr Fink. [Blackrock Might Lose CEO to Merrill Lynch]

Look at this chart below and overlay it over any financial company in the USA - even Goldman Sachs (GS) the "rock star" on Wall Street. Talk about divergence.

Long Blackrock in fund; no personal position