Net Income

Baltimore money manager Legg Mason reported Friday its net income for the fiscal third quarter fell 54 percent as the company saw assets under management fall. Net income for the three months ending Dec. 31 was $28.1 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $61.6 million, or 41 cents per share. Assets under management declined 7 percent to $627 billion, from $671.8 billion a year ago. Revenues were $627 million in the fiscal third quarter, down from $721.9 million a year earlier.

Corporate Office Properties Trust, an owner and developer of office complexes for government agencies and contractors, said Thursday its second-quarter funds from operations rose 6 percent because of gains on investments and properties the company acquired or opened last year. The Columbia-based real estate investment trust said funds from operations rose to 57 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended June 30, compared with 54 cents per share for the second quarter of 2010, excluding a non-cash impairment charge for acquisition costs.

Chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. reported a 48.6 percent quarterly earnings increase as it benefited from its expansion into emerging markets. Net income for the second quarter, which ended June 30, was $75.8 million, or $1 per share, compared to $51 million, or 69 cents per share, the previous year. Sales increased 20.6 percent to $826.4 million from $685 million. "I am pleased with how well the Grace team is executing in today's dynamic operating environment," Grace CEO Fred Festa said in a statement.

As Legg Mason Inc. reported Tuesday an 8.5 percent increase in quarterly profit, the Baltimore money manager said it doubled its quarterly dividend to 8 cents per share from a year ago to reflect the company's more solid financial position. But shares lost $1.97, or 5.3 percent, to close Tuesday at $35.13. Legg posted a net income of $69 million, or 45 cents per share, for the three months ending March 31. That's compared with a profit of $63.6 million, or 39 cents per share, in the corresponding period last year.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc., a Baltimore-based mutual fund and investment advisory services company, reported sharp increases in average mutual fund assets under management and investment advisory revenue, but the company's profits fell short of analysts' expectations in the first quarter. Price said it posted diluted earnings of 72 cents per share — a 26 percent increase over the quarter a year ago. Analysts polled by MarketWatch had expected diluted earnings per share of 75 cents.

Shares of Sourcefire Inc. fell 8 percent Wednesday as the Columbia-based provider of cybersecurity technology reported that fourth-quarter earnings fell by a third compared with the previous year. The company's net income declined to $4.4 million in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared with $6.7 million a year earlier. Sourcefire's quarterly revenues rose by 8 percent, to $38 million, compared with $35.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. For all of 2009, Sourcefire's profit was $20 million, compared with $8.9 million in 2009, while revenues climbed more than $3 million to $38 million.

Stanley Black & Decker said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit surged, fueled by acquisitions. The maker of hand tools and power tools and accessories also offered earnings guidance for this fiscal year above Wall Street forecasts. Net income rose to $137.8 million, or 81 cents per share, for the October-December period from $56.7 million, or 69 cents per share, a year ago. Stanley Works acquired Black & Decker in a $3.5 billion stock buyout approved in March 2010. The company now expects the Black & Decker acquisition will save $425 million by the end of 2012, more than the $350 million originally estimated.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said Wednesday that net income dipped 4 percent in the third quarter and that earnings missed analysts' estimates of 21 cents per share, despite the company's reported gain in revenue that included higher-than-expected sales of political advertising. The Hunt Valley-based television station owner and operator reported net income attributable to the parent company of $14.3 million, or 18 cents per share, for the three months ending Sept. 30, compared with net income of $14.9 million, or 19 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2009.

Even as Legg Mason Inc. reported Wednesday a 64 percent jump in quarterly profit, investors continued to pull money out of the Baltimore money manager's funds. The company has struggled with fund outflows in the past two years amid the financial crisis and underperformance of its mutual products. In its fiscal second quarter ending Sept. 30, clients withdrew $12.7 billion from its stock, bond and money market funds. Legg Chairman and Chief Executive Mark R. Fetting said in an interview that the company's strong earnings — its best since December 2007 — resulted in a 50 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to 6 cents per share, but he acknowledged that the company needs to work on reversing the outflows.

T. Rowe Price Group's profit rose 27 percent in the third quarter, buoyed by a market rebound and $8 billion in client investments. The Baltimore money manager said Friday that net income rose 27 percent to $169.1 million, or 64 cents per share. That's compared with a profit of $132.9 million, or 50 cents per share, in the corresponding period last year. Shares rose 4 percent, or $2.19, to close Friday at $54.89. Clients added $1.8 billion to Price's bond funds, but withdrew $600 million from its stock and blended-asset mutual funds and $100 million from money market funds.