Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Waddell & Reed Financial Inc., an Overland Park, Kansas-based mutual fund company, fell as much as 10 percent after reporting fourth-quarter earnings per share that were 1 cent shy of estimates.

The shares declined 9 percent to $26.92 at 1:51 p.m. New York time, the biggest intraday drop since October. The shares traded earlier at $26.58.

Waddell was the worst performer on the Standard & Poor’s Asset Manager Index.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Cinko at cinko@bloomberg.net