Friday's Winners & Losers: Education Realty

Shares of H&R Block(HRB Quote) were among the NYSE's losers Friday, shedding 9% after the tax-preparation and financial services company said that it would record an after-tax charge of $61.3 million, or 19 cents a share, to cover losses in its mortgage unit.

The provision, which relates to H&R's Option One Mortgage unit, will include $46.1 million related to loans during the quarter ended July 31 and $56 million related to loans sold during earlier quarters. "The increased level of loan repurchases, which have been noted industrywide, are primarily due to a higher level of repurchase requests from loan buyers and an increase in early payment delinquencies," the company said. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call project a first-quarter loss of 19 cents a share. Shares were recently trading down $2.11 to $20.68.

Education Realty Trust(EDR Quote) slid 11% after the real estate investment trust cut its full-year funds from operations forecast. The company now sees FFO of 87 cents to 92 cents a share, down from an earlier forecast of 97 cents to $1.02 a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call project FFO of $1 a share. The REIT expects total revenue to exceed $112 million.

"Even though only 13.4% of our total outstanding debt is variable-rate based, higher-than-anticipated LIBOR-based interest rates have driven up our cost of borrowing," the company said. "And due to EDR's substantial portfolio and infrastructure growth, our corporate overhead costs have outpaced expectations."

Educational Realty also cut its targeted dividend rate. The company now sees a dividend rate of 82 cents a share, down from an earlier target of $1.19. Shares recently changed hands at $13.40, down $1.59.