Shares of insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Inc. (NYSE: MMC) are trading slightly higher this morning, despite missing earnings estimates and posting a 62% decline in its fourth-quarter profit.

The company said its profit dropped to $85 million, or 16 cents per share during the fourth quarter, hurt by weak earnings results from its risk and insurance services business. These numbers are down from $226 million, or 40 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Included in the company's earnings numbers were discontinued operations and one-time costs. Excluding that, Marsh & McLennan posted earnings of 26 cents a share. Analysts, on average, expected the company to show earnings of 31 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

Marsh & McLennan replaced Michael Cherkasky, its chief executive officer, last month, blaming him for being unable to regain lost clients and revenue. Cherkasky was also blamed for spending more on bonuses for brokers. The insurance broker hired a new CEO, Brian Duperreault, whose mission is to increase the company's sales, as lower commercial insurance rates bring smaller deals commissions. Duperreault also announced his crucial target aims to raise profitability at the company's Marsh and Kroll units.

One analyst at Morgan Stanley, William Wilt, shows optimism on the company's evolution under Duperreault leadership, and said that he believes "investors will probably be willing to look beyond any negative operational news and place a greater value on an expectation for higher future earnings power." Wilt also lifted his rating on the stock to Overweight.

Marsh & McLennan had a pretty difficult year when it saw its shares losing ground for most of 2007. During that period, the company's income from continuing operations slipped to $538 million, or $0.99 per share, down from $632 million, or $1.14 per share in 2006. Consolidated revenue for the full year also gained only 8% to $11.4 billion from $10.5 billion in the previous year.

For now, it looks like Wilt may be correct in his assessment. Traders have overlooked the profit news, and instead pushed shares of the stock up 1.7% in early morning trading.

Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.