McLEAN, Va. - Freddie Mac reported on Tuesday that its first-quarter net income rose 19% from a year earlier, to $719 million, or 96 cents per common share, beating estimates by 2 cents.
Revenues at Freddie, which reported a week after Fannie Mae posted equally impressive earnings, grew 17% from a year earlier and 7.5% from the fourth quarter, to $1.247 billion.
Operating net interest income rose 22.8% from a year earlier and 11% from the fourth quarter, to $819 million. The company said the increase was driven by a jump in the retained portfolio average balance, which grew 25.3% from a year earlier and 9% from the fourth quarter, to $421 billion.
Freddie's mortgage portfolio grew 13% from a year earlier and 3% from the fourth quarter, to $994 billion.
The company said it made a record $53 billion of retained portfolio purchase commitments. It also reported credit losses of $22 million, representing annualized losses of 1 basis point of the average mortgage portfolio.
