Inflows helped Eaton Vance grow its bottom line by 17 percent in the third quarter, but that growth still did not stop the asset manager from missing its numbers. The Boston-based fund manager reported earnings of 31 cents a share, two cents shy of the Thomson/First Call average estimate.

Still, those numbers do show strong growth from a year ago when the firm earned just 26 cents a share.

The growing earnings reflect inflows into the firm's products and its burgeoning asset base. Clients poured a net of $2.59 billion into Eaton Vances mutual fund and separate accounts products, up from $2.44 billion in the year-ago quarter. On the negative side of the ledger, institutional and high-net-worth separate account investors pulled a net $500 million from the firm during the quarter. Those outflows were driven by a bank-loan separate-account withdrawal.

Eaton Vance officials also explained that "strong open-end mutual fund net sales in the third quarter more than offset lower closed-end fund sales compared to the same period last year."

Meanwhile, rising markets pushed total assets under management to $120.39 billion at quarter-end, up from $105.98 billion three months before.

Revenues from those assets hit $216.3 million, up from $190.8 million in 2005, but still shy of the $218.9 million expected by analysts. A 20 percent rise in compensation along with higher service fees, distribution costs and other expenses drove expenses up by 14 percent to $148.4 million. The compensation increase was driven by a 15 percent increase in employees. 

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