BX Blackstone Inc

KKR & Co. swung to a fourth-quarter profit as private-equity holdings rose in value, but a measure of core earnings missed Wall Street's forecasts.

The New York private-equity firm on Thursday reported earnings of $32.3 million, or 7 cents a share, versus a year-earlier loss of $583,000, or break-even on a per-share basis.

Economic net income, which includes cash earnings and changes in the value of unrealized assets, rose to $71 million, or 8 cents a share, from $46 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier. But the result fell far short of the 27-cent average estimate of analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll.

Choppy markets kept a lid on the value of private-equity firms' investments during the fourth quarter, weighing on the industry's earnings results. KKR's private-equity portfolio appreciated 4.8% during the period, it said.

For the full year, investments on KKR's balance sheet rose 3.3%. The firm invests a significant amount of its own capital in its funds.

Fourth-quarter after-tax cash earnings, a measure of profits that excludes fluctuations in KKR's unrealized investments, fell to $169 million, or 21 cents a share, from $361 million, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier.

Overall, KKR's assets under management rose to $119.54 billion, up from $107.12 billion a year earlier and $112.41 billion as of Sept. 30.

KKR said it has repurchased 17.5 million shares for $270 million since October, when it said it would buy up to $500 million of its own stock. Apollo Global Management LLC and Carlyle Group LP have followed suit in recent weeks, unveiling $250 million and $200 million share buyback programs, respectively.

Blackstone Group LP executives last month argued their is undervalued, but that the firm's cash is better served investing than buying back shares.

KKR's shares, which were inactive in premarket trading on Thursday, closed down 7.3% the day before.

Write to Matt Jarzemsky at matthew.jarzemsky@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 11, 2016 08:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

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