Blackstone's 3Q Handily Tops Expectations

Blackstone Group (BX) weighed in with better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Friday but said the economic recovery could be gradual and uneven and warned commercial real estate trends continued to worsen.

The company lost $176.2 million during the third quarter, compared to a loss of $340.3 million in the same period a year ago.

However, on an adjusted-basis, Blackstone posted earnings of 25 cents a share, topping analysts’ expectations for a profit of 15 cents. A year ago it lost 45 cents a share on an adjusted basis.

Blackstone said its total segment revenues climbed to $603.8 million during the third quarter, up from negative revenue of $229.2 million a year earlier. The company said the year-over-year improvement reflects the net appreciation of the underlying portfolio investments and the stabilization of its real estate investments.

Blackstone warned that “commercial real estate trends in the U.S. and Europe continued to worsen in the third quarter of 2009, with lower occupancy and pricing trends.”

“Equity and debt markets have continued to heal, many companies have reduced expenses and inventory levels, the cost of borrowing has declined and the availability of credit is slowly increasing. We believe the worst is behind us though a recovery could be gradual and uneven,” CEO Stephen Schwarzman said in a statement.

Blackstone said its fee-earning assets under management rose to $96.3 billion by the end of the third quarter, up from $93.5 billion at the end of the second quarter.

Shares of Blackstone climbed to $14.10 in the premarkets after closing at $13.87 on Thursday. The company’s shares have surged since plummeting to $3.55 in February.