COUNTRYWIDE EXCEEDS ANALYSTS' HOPES AGAIN.Byline: Chris Sieroty Staff Writer Countrywide Credit Industries Inc., which has enjoyed almost four years of record earnings, announced Tuesday that second quarter earnings once again exceeded Wall Street expectations, leading one analyst to describe the company's results as ``pretty impressive.'' Countrywide's better-than-expected earnings sent the company's share price up $1.25, or 4.15 percent, Tuesday to $31.5625 per share. However, the company's stock price remains nearly 40 percent lower than its 52-week high of $51.4375 set in January. The Calabasas-based residential finance company reported unaudited net earnings for the second quarter ended Aug. 31 were $106.5 million, a 12 percent increase over earnings of $95.1 million for the same quarter in 1998. Diluted earnings per share diluted earnings per share An earnings measure calculated by dividing net income less preferred stock dividends for a period by the average number of shares of common stock that would be outstanding if all convertible securities were converted into shares of for the second quarter were 91 cents, up from 81 cents for the second quarter of last year. Analysts had expected earnings of 88 cents a share, said Gary Gordon Master Sgt. Gary Ivan Gordon (August 30, 1960–October 3, 1993) is a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor. At the time of his death, he was a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army's special operations unit, the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta , a managing director with Paine Webber Paine Webber and Company was an American stock brokerage firm that was acquired by the Swiss bank UBS AG in 2000. The company was founded in 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts, by William Alfred Paine and Wallace G. Webber. in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Gordon said he was impressed with the company's second quarter results, but cautioned that increased price competition within the home loan industry would make the next two quarters ``very challenging'' for Countrywide. Angelo R. Mozilo Angelo R. Mozilo is the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial. He is the son of a Bronx butcher. In 1969 he and David Loeb, who had already started a mortgage lending company, founded Countrywide Credit Industries in New York. , Countrywide's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the company has produced record results despite rising interest rates. ``Servicing earnings growth more than offset the decline in production earnings which resulted from lower volume,'' Mozilo said in the statement. The company said its loan service portfolio grew to $236 billion with a weighted average coupon Weighted average Coupon The weighted average of the gross interest rates of mortgages underlying a pool as of the pool issue date; the balance of each mortgage is used as the weighting factor. of 7.4 percent at Aug. 31 from $195 billion with a weighted average coupon of 7.7 percent at the end of the second quarter last year. |
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