PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Mortgage insurer Radian Group's fourth-quarter loss widened, hindered in part by a smaller gain on investments and lower revenue. But it wrote substantially more insurance and delinquent loans and paid claims fell.
Radian lost $177.3 million, or $1.34 per share, for the period ended Dec. 31. That compares with a loss of $121.5 million, or 92 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts predicted a loss of 51 cents per share, according to a FactSet poll.
Radian's gain on investments was $6.4 million in the current quarter, compared with $38.9 million in the prior-year period.
Revenue fell 38 percent to $226.1 million from $364.6 million. Wall Street expected $225.4 million.
New mortgage insurance written climbed to $11.7 billion from $6.5 billion a year ago, while the total number of primary delinquent loans declined by 16 percent.
Total mortgage insurance claims paid fell to $263.4 million from $291.6 million.
The stock rose 3 cents to $6.75 in morning trading after falling as low as $6.22 earlier in the session. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $2 to $7.15.
For the year, Radian Group Inc. lost $451.5 million, or $3.41 per share. The Philadelphia company posted a profit of $302.2 million, or $2.26 per share, in the prior year. Annual revenue dropped to $825.4 million from $1.95 billion.
