MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG) is expected to release third quarter results on Oct 15. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company is a loss of $1.64 per share. The company’s financial results have been adversely impacted by increased delinquencies, which are occurring due to a weakened economy, increased unemployment and lower home prices. I t is also expected that the amount of loans insured by MGIC during the quarter should be lower than the average book written over the past four years. As a result of its underwriting changes, the company will be insuring fewer loans with loan-to-value ratios greater than 95% as well as loans classified as A-minus and reduced documentation loans, which carry higher premium rates.  We expect that it will adversely affect the company’s results in the coming quarter. The level of incurred losses is expected to be higher than prior-year levels as ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 17, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: CIT Group (CIT), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), American International Group (AIG) and MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Will CIT Be Allowed to Fail?

It appears that the CIT Group (CIT) is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy as it has been unable to reach a deal with the government for emergency funding. The fate of the ailing business lender will provide

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 10, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the latest Industry Outlook. Today's interview is with senior analyst Eric Rothmann, who talks about the Financials Industry, including Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN), MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG) and MBIA Inc. (MBI).

A synopsis of today's Industry Outlook is presented below. The full article can be read at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678.

We suspect that the recent improvement in share prices for financial stocks has gotten a bit ahead of the earnings and growth prospects over the near term. Considering the high level of unemployment and with foreclosures gnawing at prime mortgages, we continue to think the pay-day lenders and pawnbrokers still represent an opportunity, currently.

While improvements have been noted, sightings of "green shoots" in the economy may have resulted in an overzealous response, as we continue to fail to

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Even though some financial institutions are ready, willing and able to return the funds received through the Troubled-Asset Relief Program (TARP), the sticking point remains what the government is willing to accept and what the financial institutions are willing to pay for the warrants attached to the preferred stock. While financial institutions have experienced a rebound over the recent couple of months, we note there are still a number of concerns that will continue to overhang the industry for a number of quarters: Unemployment continues to remain extremely high, to within about a half a percent of the 10% level, as such the delinquency rates on prime loan home mortgages has increased. The 1Q09 moratorium on home foreclosures has been lifted and the level of new foreclosures has started to rise again. Consumer loan delinquencies have been on the rise. Commercial loan issues have been on the risk. While ...

Even though some financial institutions are ready, willing and able to return the funds received through the Troubled-Asset Relief Program (TARP), the sticking point remains what the government is willing to accept and what the financial institutions are willing to pay for the warrants attached to the preferred stock. While financial institutions have experienced a rebound over the recent couple of months, we note there are still a number of concerns that will continue to overhang the industry for a number of quarters: Unemployment continues to remain extremely high, to within about a half a percent of the 10% level, as such the delinquency rates on prime loan home mortgages has increased. The 1Q09 moratorium on home foreclosures has been lifted and the level of new foreclosures has started to rise again. Consumer loan delinquencies have been on the rise. Commercial loan issues have been on the risk. While ...

Even though some financial institutions are ready, willing and able to return the funds received through the Troubled-Asset Relief Program (TARP), the sticking point remains what the government is willing to accept and what the financial institutions are willing to pay for the warrants attached to the preferred stock. While financial institutions have experienced a rebound over the recent couple of months, we note there are still a number of concerns that will continue to overhang the industry for a number of quarters: Unemployment remains extremely high, to within about a half a percent of the 10% level; as such the delinquency rates on prime loan home mortgages has increased. The 1Q09 moratorium on home foreclosures has been lifted, and the level of new foreclosures has started to rise again. ...

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While we remain negative over all, we would note our outlook has begun to improve a bit around the edges given the comparatively limited downside potential remaining for certain entities.

The financial markets and financial stocks in particular have experienced a significant percentage-point lift following the pending modification to the mark-to-market accounting rules (an artificial adjustment to capital) and the announcement for the Public Private Investment Partnership (PPIP) -- though we would point out that there is nothing of note to what was proposed approximately two months ago, we will soon find out if the issues with the securities in question were based on the buyers or sellers being out of whack, or a question of valuation or solvency.

Since the Troubled-Asset Relief Program (TARP) is effectively out of money -- more than $665 billion out of $700 billion has already been used -- we would currently expect nearly $2.0 trillion needed

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Highlighted stocks include Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN), MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG) and MBIA Inc. (MBI). While we remain negative over all, we would note our outlook has begun to improve a bit around the edges given the comparatively limited downside potential remaining for certain entities.The financial markets and financial stocks in particular have experienced a significant percentage-point lift following the pending modification to the mark-to-market accounting rules (an artificial adjustment to capital) and the announcement for the Public Private Investment Partnership (PPIP) -- though we would point out that there is nothing of note to what was proposed approximately two months ago, we will soon find out if the issues with the securities in question were based on the buyers or sellers being out of whack, or a question of valuation or solvency.Since the Troubled-Asset Relief Program (TARP) is effectively ...

While the financial markets and financial institutions in particular have received a lift in recent days, until there is a quality plan to get the financial institutions back on the lending track, this may amount to a bit of irrational exuberance.

Our banking system remains in a fairly frozen state. Financial institutions remain afraid of the potential for additional losses, continue their anaconda grip on lending only exacerbates the problem.

A financial institution's true willingness to lend remains only to "qualified" home buyers. Clearly, the definition of "qualified" has changed dramatically over the past year to mean "pristine credit," or a FICO credit score of 750 or better out of a 300-850 range.

As credit score requirements continue to be ratcheted higher, additional hurdles have been added, though the credit scoring agencies continue to have excessive errors in their data. More times than not, these errors can only be addressed by paying for

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