All good things must come to an end, including earnings streaks. Eaton Vance [profile] just broke a five-and-a-half-year streak. Tom Faust, CEO of the Boston-based mutual fund firm, revealed that tidbit last week on a conference about Eaton Vance's fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2011 (which ended October 31) results.

"In the category of 'all good things must come to an end,' this marks the conclusion of our streak of 22 consecutive quarters of positive net inflows," Faust said, pointing to the $2.7 billion in net outflows that Eaton Vance suffered last quarter. "We attribute the disappointing quarterly net flows primarily to the difficult markets and high investor anxiety that prevailed through FQ4."

Yet Eaton Vance still netted $3.9 billion in inflows for the full fiscal year, "which represents a two percent organic growth rate", Faust said. That fell well below the firm's internal target of 10 percent, and its 11 percent average over the past decade. 

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