Freddie Shares Tumble on Loss, Dividend Cut

Updated from 8:47 a.m. EDT.

Government-sponsored mortgage lender Freddie Mac(FRE Quote) on Wednesday swung to a second-quarter loss more than three times worse than Wall Street expected, as the slumping housing market continued to weigh on the stock.

Chairman and CEO Richard Syron also said Freddie would slash its dividend to "a nickel or less" from 25 cents a share on its common stock in a move to preserve capital. Freddie shares tumbled dramatically, recently trading down nearly 16% at $6.78, but recovering a bit from steeper declines earlier in the day.

Freddie reported a net loss of $821 million, or $1.63 per share, compared to a net profit of $729 million, or 96 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Analysts expected a loss of 41 cents a share, on average, according to Thomson Reuters. The most recent loss comes on top of a first-quarter dent of $151 million, or 66 cents per share.

Freddie increased its provision for credit losses to $2.5 billion, vs. $1.2 billion for the first quarter. Credit-related expenses doubled sequentially to $2.8 billion in the second quarter, due to increasing delinquency rates in its single-family credit guarantee portfolio, more loans transitioned from delinquency to foreclosure and the estimated severity of losses on a per-property basis increased.

The company predicts that home prices related to its loan portfolio will fall 18% to 20% further, vs. an earlier expectation of a 15% decline. Syron expects credit costs to "remain high as the housing market continues to search for a bottom" and estimates that the housing market is about halfway through its decline, but said it is "far from stabilizing."