Earnings Stall at U.S. Global Investors

It's been a relatively mixed bag for asset managers this earnings season. A number of them, such as T. Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW ) and Janus (NYSE: JNS ) , managed to report good numbers despite the turmoil in the back half of 2007. Others, like Legg Mason (NYSE: LM ) , didn't smell quite so rosy.

The results that U.S. Global Investors (Nasdaq: GROW ) reported for its second fiscal quarter fell somewhere in between. Though the company managed double-digit revenue and average assets-under-management growth, higher expenses ate up much of that growth on the way to the bottom line.

USGI finished the quarter with average assets under management of $5.63 billion, up from $4.74 billion in the December quarter of 2006. Revenue was up 12% to $13.9 million for the quarter. Expense growth kept up with the climbing top line, and the company finished the quarter with $0.16 in earnings per share, flat from the prior year.

The company continues to see an investment environment rife with opportunity, however. In the earnings press release, CEO and Chief Investment Officer Frank Holmes said that "we don't share that despair" when it comes to concerns over subprime debt and a potential U.S. recession. In fact, he reiterated how bullish the company is on China and India, and noted what USGI refers to as a "global megatrend" in infrastructure spending in these countries and throughout the rest of the world.

The company has already been very successful with its Global Resources and Eastern European funds. If its "global megatrend" does play out, it stands to continue to benefit through these and other targeted funds, such as the Global Emerging Markets and China Region funds.

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