S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Federated Investors Inc. (NYSE:FII) reported its results for the fourth quarter. Federated Investors provides investment management products and related financial services, including money market, equity and fixed-income investments.

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Federated Investors Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Fourth Quarter

Results: Net income for the asset management company fell to $36.9 million (36 cents per share) vs. $46.4 million (45 cents per share) a year earlier. This is a decline of 20.4% from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Fell 11.8% to $216.4 million from the year earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: FII fell short of the mean analyst estimate of 39 cents per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $225.1 million.

Quoting Management: “In a year when income-seeking strategies were in demand, investors found a range of opportunities at Federated, from our multi-sector and high-yield bond strategies to the particular interest in equity portfolios investing in dividend-paying companies in the U.S. and across the globe,” said J. Christopher Donahue, president and chief executive officer. “Combined assets in Federated’s strategic-value portfolios more than doubled in 2011 to reach $10 billion, while our Strategic Value Dividend Fund became one of the best selling equity-income funds in the industry last year.”

Key Stats:

The company fell short of estimates last quarter after being in line with expectations the quarter before with net income of 37 cents.

Net income has dropped 14.8% year over year on average across the last five quarters. Performance was hurt by a 20.9% decline in the first quarter from the year earlier quarter.

Looking Forward: The average estimate for the first quarter of the next fiscal year remains unchanged at 39 cents a share. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from $1.50 a share to $1.49 over the last sixty days.

Competitors to Watch: Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN), Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE:WDR), T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW), Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMG), SEI Investments Company (NASDAQ:SEIC), Eaton Vance Corp. (NYSE:EV), Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE:JNS), U.S. Global Investors, Inc. (NASDAQ:GROW), Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS), and Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE:CNS).

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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