MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG) reported a net loss for the third quarter 2010 of $51.5 million, compared with a net loss of $517.8 million for the same quarter a year ago. Diluted net loss per share was $0.26 for the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to diluted loss per share of $4.17 for the same quarter a year ago. The net loss for the first nine months of 2010 was $177.1 million, compared with a net loss of $1.04 billion for the same period last year. MGIC is the nation’s leading provider of private mortgage insurance coverage. New insurance written in the third quarter was $3.5 billion, compared to $4.6 billion in the third quarter of 2009. According to analysis from Thomson Reuters/StarMine, MGIC was estimated to show a third-quarter loss of 78 cents a share, 17% more than the mean estimate for a 67 cent per share loss expected in prior estimations. Earlier this year, MGIC issued a $700m stock offering in April on its way to posting its first quarterly profit in three years. MGIC Investment Corp. reported net income of $24.6 million in 2Q. 2Q profits amount to $0.13 per share, compared to a net loss of $2.74 per share in the same quarter one year ago. MGIC insures mortgage lenders against unrecoverable default and foreclosure losses. The company said that, as of the end of 2Q 2009, it insured 1.3 million mortgages with $202.4 billion in primary insurance. MGIC posted a $150m loss in 1Q10, just two days before it priced the public stock offering. Year-to-date losses through the second quarter totaled $125.5 million, compared to a net loss of $524.4 million during the first six months of 2009. Losses in 2009 totaled $1.3 billion. Write to Jacob Gaffney. The author holds no relevant investments.