Freddie Estimates 1st-Half Earnings at $2.7B

Freddie Mac has reported that its estimated net income for the first half of 2006 totaled $2.7 billion, with increases in the "fair value" of the guarantee fee and derivative instruments boosting results.Higher interest rates helped generate mark-to-market gains, and Freddie Mac acknowledged that with rates dipping in the third quarter, some of those mark-to-market gains could be lost. On a fair-value basis, a measure Freddie Mac prefers to GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) results, Freddie said its return was $2.3 billion in the first half, for an annualized rate of return of 17%. Freddie Mac executives said on a conference call with investors that the average fair-value return exceeded management's goal of percentage earnings growth in the low to mid-teens. The company said it still hopes to return to regular financial reporting by the end of next year, though executives were hesitant to give a firm timetable.