[R]8:00AM New York-BlackRock Inc. (BLK: chart) posts record fourth quarter earnings; subdues credit market turmoil.[/R]

BlackRock Inc has reported fourth revenue increase of 41.8% to $1.44 billion compared with $1.01 billion posted in the year ago quarter, as the giant asset manager put up a sterling performance amongst more disastrous results from several banking firms.

Net income surged 90.3% to $322.4 million from $169.4 million a year ago, as the company’s majority shareholder Merrill Lynch & Co simultaneously reported a near $10 billion net loss.

BlackRock said earnings gained 89.8% to $2.43 per share from $1.28 per share, beating consensus estimates of $2.15 per share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Quarterly operating margins rose to 32.4% from 24.2% last year.

The higher fourth quarter numbers reflect BlackRock’s rising asset portfolio, and the impact of recent acquisitions.

Assets under management totaled $1.36 trillion on December 31, up $232 billion from a year earlier, said the company.

In the quarter, BlackRock acquired the fund of funds business of Quellos Group, LLC for $1.7 billion, as well as the operations of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Included in the earnings is a gain of $0.10 per share from MLIM.

Net new business totaled $30.7 billion during the fourth quarter and $137.6 billion for the full year, up 9.7% and 12.2%, respectively.

The New Year also began strongly, and as of January 14 its new business pipeline was $30.7 billion.

BlackRock said it acquired $21.9 billion of assets on October 1, 2007 when the company closed the Quellos’ acquisition.

For fiscal 2007, revenues climbed 130.9% to $4.84 billion from $2.09 billion a year earlier.

Net earnings rose 208.5% to $995.27 million or $7.53 per share from $322.6 million or $3.87 per share posted in 2006.

BlackRock said that of the $30.7 billion of investor inflows in the fourth quarter, $22.2 billion came into its money market funds as investors sought the safety of those products.

Equity and balanced products reported net inflows of $10.8 billion. The fixed-income area saw outflows of $4.4 billion and transfers of $1.6 billion.

During the quarter, performance fees rose to $153 million from $40 million a year earlier, while the company’s advisory business, BlackRock Solutions, revenue rose 37.7% to $62 million from $45 million.

“The markets were exceptionally volatile during the fourth quarter as investors digested the implications of the U.S. housing slump, the ongoing sub-prime debacle, a sustained liquidity contraction and a weaker dollar,” stated Laurence D. Fink, chairman and chief executive officer of BlackRock.

He expects BlackRock, the biggest fund manager in the U.S., to benefit from the housing turmoil in 2008.

""""Being well-positioned in terms of risk-management, I think we are going to be a beneficiary in 2008 of the market turmoil,"""" he said in a conference call Thursday.

BlackRock shares rose 1.49% or $3.06 to $208.01 in after hours trading Thursday. The stock has reached a high of $227.49 in the past year, and analysts are now targeting a one-year price of $219.63.