Friday's Winners & Losers: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Downgrades for giant mortgage buyers Fannie Mae (FNM Quote) and Freddie Mac (FRE Quote) helped send the financial stocks sliding Friday.

Merrill Lynch sliced its rating on government-sponsored entities Fannie and Freddie to sell from neutral, citing more deterioration in financial markets and credit conditions. Fannie shares were down 4.5% at $27.70, while Freddie Mac stock dropped 7.2% to $25.76.

Also losing ground was Orthofix International (OFIX Quote), which fell some 33% to a new 52-week low of $35.50 after reporting fourth-quarter results. The orthopedics company posted adjusted earnings of $7.6 million, or 45 cents a share, falling short of the Thomson Financial analyst consensus of 62 cents a share.

Intel(INTC Quote) was down 48 cents, or 2.4%, to $19.82 as the company battled regulators in the European Union investigating charges that Intel used unfair practices to gain market share against rival Advanced Micro Devices(AMD Quote).

United Natural Foods (UNFI Quote) shares fell 24.2% to $18.07 after the Davyille, Conn., natural and organic food distributor reported fiscal second-quarter 2008 earnings and cut guidance Thursday after the close. Excluding acquisition-related dilution of earnings, the company reported income of $12.4 million, or 29 cents a share, vs. $10.9 million, or a quarter a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for 30 cents a share. United Natural also lowered full-year EPS guidance for 2008 to $1.12 to $1.14 a share from a previous forecast of $1.40 to $1.45 a share. Piper Jaffray downgraded the stock to neutral from buy.

Inter-dealer broker GFI Group (GFIF Quote) held its conference call Friday, a day after reporting its quarterly profit rose 88%, beating analysts' view. Investors didn't like what they heard on the call and slapped the stock down 7.9% to $80.86.

Endo Pharmaceuticals (ENDP Quote) rose more than 6% to $26.74 after the drugmaker reported an increase in quarterly earnings and issued newly raised '08 guidance. Adjusted fourth-quarter earnings came to 52 cents a share, up from 42 cents a year ago and ahead of the 44 cents Wall Street analysts expected (per Thomson Financial estimates). The company now expects 2008 net sales of $1.225 billion to $1.25 billion, up from previous guidance of $1.215 billion to $1.24 billion. It forecasts adjusted earnings of $2.18 to $2.22 a share, up from earlier guidance of $2.10 to $2.15.

Also gaining was Force Protection (FRPT Quote). The Lasdon, S.C., maker of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) announced a $115.2 million deal for the sale of 174 of its vehicles. The MRAPs will be bought by the U.K. under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program. Force Protection also reported receipt of an $8 million order from the Italian Ministry of Defense. Shares jumped 9.8% to $4.70.

Chipmaker Marvell(MRVL Quote) lost 19 cents, or 1.7%, to $11.12 as chatter related to the company being a takeover target calmed down. Earlier this week, Marvell shares were up on takeover speculation.