Countrywide’s Profit Falls 1%; Revenue Up

Countrywide Financial Corp. said Thursday that quarterly profit easily exceeded Wall Street forecasts as revenue and mortgage lending surged.

Net income for the country’s largest mortgage lender fell 1% to $683.5 million, or $1.10 a share, from $688.9 million, or $1.13, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates on average had expected 96 cents a share. Revenue rose 18% to $2.84 billion, topping estimates for $2.5 billion.

Calabasas-based Countrywide, which originates 1 in 6 U.S. mortgages, said loan production increased 19% to $93.5 billion despite rising interest rates. The company boosted margins on loans it sold to investors and other lenders, and its servicing portfolio swelled 29% to $1.15 trillion.