PMI Labeled 'Bear of the Day'

Zacks Equity Research, Chicago, has named PMI Group, Walnut Creek, Calif., as its Bear of the Day for June 18. "PMI's combined ratio worsened significantly while the claim rates and average claim sizes increased considerably," Zacks said. "We suspect the company may need to raise capital in the coming months in order to satisfy the requirements of the rating agencies. Based on the results, we have further reduced our estimates for fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2009. Our sell rating on the shares remains unchanged." As part of the transfer of a reinsurance portfolio to a third party announced on June 17, PMI Group plans to take a $150 million dividend from one of its units and reinvest at least 80% of it into its U.S. mortgage insurance subsidiary, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. Zacks can be found online at http://www.zacks.com, and PMI can be found at http://www.pmigroup.com.