Genworth: Delinquencies Improving in the 'Sand States'

Genworth Financial, which operates the nation's fourth largest mortgage insurer, said it is seeing a decline in delinquencies in such hard hit states as Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada. Speaking at an investor conference in New York, company chief financial officer and senior vice president Patrick Kelleher said Genworth's improvement is coming from a variety of factors, including active loss mitigation. Its MI business, he noted, is the company's "biggest source of pressure." Even though there is improvement in the four "sand states," the company is seeing an increase in delinquencies on prime products. "These trends are what we would expect, given the historic relationship between rising unemployment and delinquencies." The company's stock has made a strong comeback over the past two months and at deadline was trading at just over $10 compared to a 52-week low of 70 cents.