MGIC Reports $375M Net Loss

MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, has reported a net loss of $375.2 million ($4.60 per share) for the third quarter, compared with earnings of $130.0 million ($1.55 per share) for the same period last year.The company blamed a series of one-time items for the loss, including a $303.0 million writedown of its investment in C-BASS and $11.3 million in expenses related to the termination of its acquisition of Radian Group Inc., Philadelphia. These were offset by a gain of $105.9 million on the sale of a portion of its holdings in Sherman Financial Group. Because of expected fourth-quarter paid losses of $270-290 million and expected 2008 paid losses of $1.2-1.5 billion, MGIC said it would not be profitable in the fourth quarter or for all of next year. Fitch Ratings revised its ratings outlook for MGIC from stable to negative. However, Fitch said it believes MGIC "will maintain more than enough financial and capital and financial resources to manage through this period, and it will be unlikely that Fitch will downgrade the company's ratings." MGIC can be found on the Web at http://www.mgic.com.