Diana Shipping Q4 profit misses mkt view; shares fall Greek dry-bulk carrier Diana Shipping Inc (DSX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted higher quarter results helped by higher freight rates, but missed market expectations, sending its shares down more than 5 percent.
The company said quarterly average daily time charter equivalent rate, a measure of vessel hire rates, increased about 44 percent to $36,459 per day, from last year.
The company reported quarterly net income available to common stockholders of $36.4 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $19.4 million, or 37 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Quarterly voyage and time charter revenues increased about 67.3 percent to $58.9 million.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 52 cents per share, before items, on revenue of $58.7 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
The results come after the company's peers Dryships Inc (DRYS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd (GNK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates helped by higher freight rates.
Delinquencies rise at Countrywide Countrywide Financial Corp. said Friday home loan delinquencies and foreclosures rose in January as more borrowers struggled to make their mortgage payments.
The nation's largest mortgage lender and servicer said loan delinquencies as a percentage of unpaid principal balance increased to 7.47 percent last month from 7.2 percent in December and 4.32 percent in January 2007.
Loan servicers collect mortgage payments and distribute them to the owners of the mortgages. The Calabasas, Calif.-based lender services mortgages totaling about $1.48 trillion.
Foreclosures pending as a percentage of unpaid principal balance increased to 1.48 percent in January, from 1.44 percent in December and 0.77 percent in January 2007.
Delinquencies and pending foreclosures increased despite stepped up measures outlined by Countrywide in recent months to help borrowers manage their mortgage payments.
Mortgage loan fundings slipped 6 percent to $22 billion from $23.4 billion in December, and were down 41 percent from $37 billion a year earlier.
Still, the lender's average daily mortgage applications rose last month to $2.6 billion from December's $1.5 billion.
Interest rates have been falling this year, and that's fueled a spike in mortgage applications industrywide, particularly as homeowners look to refinance existing loans.
Countrywide's mortgage pipeline -- loans in progress that have not been funded -- stood at $51 billion at the end of January, up from $35 billion in December, the company said.
Following last summer's collapse of the subprime mortgage market, the lender has tightened underwriting criteria and all but ceased making subprime loans for borrowers with past credit problems.
It did not list a January figure for fundings of subprime mortgages. It funded $2.9 billion in subprime loans a year earlier.
Home equity loan fundings plunged to $872 million, down 93.6 percent from $3.6 billion a year earlier.
The lender's slate of adjustable rate mortgages fell by 79.5 percent to $2.8 billion, from $13.7 billion in January 2007.
Countrywide has been struggling amid a nationwide housing downturn and lingering credit crisis.
The company previously reported a loss of $422 million in 2007's fourth quarter, as higher defaults forced the lender to boost its provisions for anticipated losses.
In January, Bank of America Corp. agreed to purchase Countrywide for about $4 billion in stock. The transaction is projected to close in the third quarter.
Priceline's income, excluding special items, was 96 cents per share, beating Wall Street analysts' average forecast on that basis of 84 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
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