Freddie Mac reported earnings this morning:
Stock analysts expected: a loss of 53 cents a share on revenue of $2.18 billion;
Stock analysts got: a loss of $1.63 a share on revenue of $1.69 billion.
In addition, "to preserve capital, the government-sponsored company said it expects to cut its dividend this quarter to 5 cents or less a from 25 cents a share."
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Freddie Reports
Posted by Harriet at 8:42 AM
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4 comments:
On the bright side, at least they did cut the dividend. I know that the dividend may be all that's supporting it's stock price (and hence one method of raising capital) right now, but it seems like madness not to cut the dividend when facing such losses. "reporting a second-quarter net loss of $821 million, or $1.63 a share" That 20 cents savings won't cover it, but it's a dent.
I say this as someone who hopes to get a conforming loan in the next year or two, so would like Freddie and Fannie to remain liquid.
Freddie's Alt-A foreclosure rate is very high, and they have increased their home price decline forecast from 15% to 18%-20%.
And we are entering the slow home sale season...
CR has a post that's not to be missed on the LTV and FICO scores at Fannie and Freddie through the early stages of the crisis.
calculatedrisk.blogspot.com
The bad news is they loosened standards at first, such that a much higher percentage of risky loans went through in early 2007. The good news is they went back to normal practice towards the end of 2007 and have returned to normal standards now.
It's an interesting illustration of how high the demand was for the slightly creative financing products, given how many Freddie and Fannie took on once other players left the field.
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