MIs in Focus

The nonexistent spring home-selling season has put yet another crimp in the long-expected rebound of private mortgage insurers.

New business has been dismal, and losses on delinquent loans have not abated as much as expected, say analysts at KBW Inc.'s Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc.

Analysts lowered second-quarter earnings estimates for three insurers — MGIC Investment Corp., Radian Group Inc., and Old Republic International Corp. — because the delinquent loan inventory did not fall as much as expected and new business has not really materialized.

Though PMI Group Inc. also had increased losses and less new business, the analysts raised their earnings estimates slightly because of the inclusion of sales from Australia.

"There is a growing sentiment that the mortgage insurers need to show better progress toward profitability if investors are going to believe that further capital raises are not needed," wrote analysts Nathaniel Otis and William Clark in a note Tuesday.