American Home Trims Guidance

American Home Mortgage's(AHM Quote) first-quarter profit slumped 44%, fueled by a deteriorating market for risky loans.

In the first quarter, the Melville, N.Y., mortgage lender made $30.7 million, or 54 cents a share, compared with $54.5 million, or $1.02 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue dropped 15.4% to $197.2 million.

"As has been well publicized, the first quarter was a difficult period for mortgage lenders," said Michael Strauss, American Home's CEO. "Our company also found the first quarter to be challenging. During the quarter, a severe disruption in the secondary mortgage market caused the prices we received for our loan production to be far less than in previous quarters." ...