Thursday's Financial Winners & Losers

Bear Stearns'(BSC Quote) shares rose after reporting a 16% gain in third-quarter profit, making it the third Wall Street firm to exceed analyst expectations this week.

In the quarter, Bear Stearns earned $438 million, or $3.02 a share, up from $378 million, or $2.69 a share. Net revenue rose nearly 18% to $2.13 billion. Analysts were looking for earnings of $2.87 a share on revenue of $2.1 billion. The firm's shares most recently traded at $137.25, up $1.03.

TCF Financial(TCB Quote) soared after an analyst upgraded shares of the Minnesota-based bank. An analyst with Stifel Nicolaus now rates the stock a buy, up from a hold recommendation. The bank's shares were up $1.14, or 4.5%, to $26.60.

Countrywide Financial(symbol Quote) declined after the big mortgage bank said its loan activity fell in August.

The California-based lender said mortgage loan fundings were down 24% in August from a year ago to $40 billion. Meanwhile, average daily mortgage applications dropped by 17% from a year ago. Shares of the mortgage bank fell 23 cents to $34.70

Fifth Third Bancorp(FITB Quote) slid after an analyst downgraded the stock.

The downgrade from Bank of America came two days after the Midwestern lender warned that third-quarter profits would be "modestly lower'' than the second quarter. The bank said it expected higher loan losses and slowing deposit growth to crimp its net interest margin. Shares of Fifth Third were down 17 cents to $38.86.