Fortress Profit Up

Fortress Investment Group said today that its third-quarter profit rose 1.6% on stronger investment returns.

The alternative-investments giant, the first such publicly-traded firm in the U.S., said its pretax distributable earnings rose to $65 million. Under generally-accepted accounting principles, the firm's profit soared to $42 million, up from $1 million in the year-earlier period.

Still, at just 13 cents per share, the pretax earnings missed analysts' estimates of 15 cents per share.

Fortress' assets under management jumped 6% to $58 billion on the quarter.

The firm's private-equity valuations rose 10% in the third quarter, but Fortress posted more mixed returns for its hedge funds: Its Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund added 3.8%, but its Macro and Asia Macro funds lost ground.