Countrywide Narrows Stance

I think we're hitting the end of chapter one and waiting for chapter 2 at this point.

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, predicted a return to profit in the fourth quarter and for 2008 after its first quarterly loss in 25 years. The shares jumped more than 20 percent.

The loss of $1.2 billion, or $2.12 a share, compared with net income of $647.6 million, or $1.03 a share, a year earlier, the Calabasas, California-based company said in a statement today. The per-share figure excludes the effects of convertible preferred stock issued in the quarter. Loss estimates by analysts ranged as high as $3.47 a share by Morgan Stanley's Kenneth Posner.

President David Sambol called the third-quarter loss ``an earnings trough'' and said ``prospects for the U.S. housing and mortgage markets, as well as for Countrywide, remain very attractive.''