From Morningstar.com stock news, alerts, and opinions.....
Tomorrow's the day.
Explanation on Countrywide Analysis
by Erin Swanson, CFA | 10-24-07 | 12:51PM
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="5"> </td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr valign="top"><td class="Abody">We want to provide clarification on why we put Countrywide Financial CFC under review on Tuesday. Yesterday, we came across information on Countrywide's Web site showing that the firm owned around 200,000 homes (the firm owns homes after a borrower goes into foreclosure). These numbers were materially worse than the approximately 13,500 homes that Countrywide indicated were in foreclosure just the previous week. Within a few hours, Countrywide's Web site was back to showing about 13,500 homes owned rather than 200,000. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to independently verify which number might be closer to reality and why this number changed so suddenly. More importantly, we were hoping to learn whether the foreclosed loans were previously securitized or were in Countrywide's held-for-investment portfolio, or a combination of both. This information is important as Countrywide's expected losses from selling homes under foreclosure would be significantly higher if those loans were on Countrywide's books rather than if they had been securitized. As we have yet to gain any clarity surrounding these issues, we intend to leave the firm unrated until Countrywide reports third-quarter earnings on Friday. </td></tr></tbody></table>
Tomorrow's the day.