Freddie Mac posts wider loss of $2.5B in 4th-qtr as loan defaults mounted
Posted February 27, 2008 10:00 pm
WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac says its loss widened to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter as defaults mounted on home mortgages.
Freddie Mac is the No. 2 U.S. buyer and backer of home loans. The fourth-quarter loss compares with a loss of $401 million in the last three months of 2006.
Freddie Mac reported Thursday the latest loss was equivalent to $3.97 a share. It lost 73 cents a share a year earlier. Thomson Financial says Wall Street analysts had expected the company to lose $2.34 a share in the latest period.