E-Trade Financial Corp. said today that that it will exit wholesale mortgage operations as part of a restructuring effort fueled by “significant deterioration in the mortgage market.” The exit will cost the company $32 million, it said in a press statement today. And that’s for starters. E-Trade also said it expects to charge off some $95 million and hike loan loss provisions for $245 million in the second half of 2007, with most of these charges being taken during the third quarter:
With this additional reserve, allowance for loan losses as a percentage of non-performing loans is expected to increase to 75 percent based on assumptions for the second half of the year, up from 45 percent on June 30, 2007. Within home equity loans, where the Company and the marketplace have seen the most significant stress, the coverage will be approximately 100 percent, up from 51 percent as of June 30, 2007.
In case you missed that: E-Trade just disclosed that it is expecting to take complete losses on any home equity delinquencies. But wait, there’s more: the company also disclosed that its ABS/CDO investments would likely be impaired to the tune of $100 million, leaving E-Trade to lower its profit expectations for the year by more than 25 percent. For the full year 2007, E-Trade said it now expects to report net income of between $450 million and $500 million, and earnings per share of between $1.05 and $1.15 per share. This is down from its previous range of $1.53 to $1.67 per share.
