Accredited Says It Expects to Report $40 to $60 Million Loss; Stock Hammered

Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., in a filing with the SEC after regular market hours Friday, said it will postpone filing its second quarter report — but also said it expects to report huge losses for the quarter when its final quarterly report is filed.

The company forecast net losses ranging from $40 to $60 million for the second quarter, citing ongoing problems in the subprime mortgage market. And that number could get even higher: Accredited noted that its forecast for losses did not include the loss in value for more than $1 billion in loans currently held for sale — the company said the loans had “declined in value” but did not provide an estimate of the magnitude of decline.

Liquidity continues to be drawn down as well:

At June 30, 2007, the Company had total liquidity of approximately $240 million, which consisted of cash and cash equivalents, plus available collateralized borrowing capacity on our warehouse and other lines of credit, compared to approximately $316 million at June 30, 2006. As of July 31, 2007, the Company had total liquidity of approximately $175 million. The decrease in liquidity from June 30, 2007 to July 31, 2007 reflects the Company’s investment of larger amounts of cash as it funds its loan production, incremental cash required by credit providers on existing loans held for sale, and cash used for general operating expenses.

Accredited still has yet to file its first quarter earnings report, the result of having its former auditor resign in April.

Update: MarketWatch notes that Accredited was among the most actively traded stocks in after-hours trading. The stock dropped nearly 50 percent to finish after hours at $4.66 after closing at $8.91 in regular trading.