Capital One Cuts Fourth Quarter Outlook; GreenPoint an Earnings Drag

Capital One Financial said today that mortgage-related charges will push the largest independent credit card issuer in the U.S. below its original earnings outlook. The company said it expects to report fourth quarter earnings of $0.60 per share and full year earnings of $3.97 per share — a drop of nearly 20 percent from earlier guidance of $5.00 per share. Costs associated with the shutdown of GreenPoint Mortgage, announced by the company in August, were a primary reason for the drop. The shuttered mortgage operation provided a drag of $0.25 per share during the fourth quarter; for the full year, exposure to Green point is expected to provide a drag on earnings to the tune of $2.58 per share, Capital One said. But Greenpoint isn’t the only problem facing Capital One — a general slowdown in all consumer credit categories led the company to hike its provision for loan losses by $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter. Capital One said that “the allowance build refects fourth quarter delinquencies in the company’s national consumer lending business” as well as a $700 million mark-to-market loss in GreenPoint-originated HELOCs held for investment. Disclosure: When this post was published, the author held no positions in COF.