Countrywide Reports Drop In Mortgage Loan Fundings

That “pop” you heard may have been coming from the housing bubble. A quarterly report by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that loans entering foreclosure skyrocketed 29 percent during the second quarter from the first of the year. That in itself isn’t troublesome, since a looming increase in defaults has been expected for months. But in a note to investors, Kenneth Bruce, a Merrill Lynch investor, said the report shows that weaker credit may be a regular force in the near future. “A downturn in credit may be just around the corner,” he said. “This is the first sign of meaningful weakening in the prime mortgage space.” But that prediction is evident in news from the Calabasas-based home mortgage investor Countrywide Financial Corp., which reported that mortgage loan fundings for August dropped 24 percent to $40 billion on account of the slowing housing market. The mortgage loan pipeline dropped from $78 billion 12 months ago to $64 billion as of Aug. 31. Couple that with the moribund average daily mortgage loan application activity, down 17 percent to $2.6 billion. At the same time, former Countrywide president and chief operating officer Stanford Kurland opted to sell $127 million worth of 3.36 million company stock options a week after he stepped down. Kurland received about $70 million in gains from the sell-off, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kurland still owns more than 122,000 shares of the company worth more than $4.3 million. Kurland left Countywide Sept. 7 after almost three decades on the job. In return, he got two years of pay and vesting of non-vested stock options immediately. He was replaced by the company’s executive managing director of business segment operations, David Sambol. The shake-up had raised questions about whether longtime Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo was mulling over leaving the company. However, he squashed those rumors by saying he will stay on past his 68th birthday in December. Bubble Cont. BR> The bumpy market is also being felt in Westlake Village at the corporate offices of Move Inc., which operates move.com, a website about moving and real estate information and services. Shares hit a new low of $3.73 back on Aug. 14 in response to lackluster second quarter returns. Things have gotten better lately, with shares up 42 percent as of Sept. 15. That volatile up-and-down has Caris & Company analyst Tim Boyd a little worried and in a note to investors he suggested waiting to invest. On the one hand, “our intra-quarter research suggests that both consumers and real-estate professionals are continuing to increase their reliance on the online channel,” he wrote. But the company has also restructured itself, with the pieces being put into place in the third quarter. “Although we continue to believe that this repositioning will pay off over the long term, it is important to note that some of the changes implemented were quite major and could cause a lot of disruption for consumers and advertisers alike over the short term,” Boyd said. As a result, he suggested that investors “wait for a strong indication that an era consistent GAAP profitability has arrived before buying the shares.” Inhaler Backed The Valencia biotech company MannKind Corp. recently jumped voer another hurdle in the long path to get its inhaled insulin product on the market. A study of its Technosphere Insulin found that the product is safe and effective in treating patients with type 2 diabetes and nets similar results as traditional injected rapid-acting insulin analog therapy with one side benefit. “Unlike the injected group, Technosphere insulin patients lost weight the treatment period,” said Dr. Peter C. Richardson, corporate vice president and chief scientific officer for MannKind, in a statement. It also does not harm the lungs, one of the initial fears of the inhaled form of insulin, the study found. Earlier this month the company announced the completion of its safety trial is expected by the end of 2008. It could be on the market by 2010. If approved, Technosphere will go up against Exubera, an inhaled insulin therapy drug by Pfizer Inc. developed by Nektar Therapeutics. It was given the green light in July. MannKind has a lot riding on Technosphere. It is the only product under development by the company, founded by pharmaceutical veteran Alfred Mann to treat cancer, diabetes and autoimmune diseases. While the mammoth costs (around $600 million) and lengthy approval process (15 years) for the drug has meant MannKind has yet to turn a profit, the anticipation has sent its stock price skyrocketing. As of last week, the stock was up 63.7 percent from a year ago. The company spent $81.3 million on research and development on Technosphere during the first six months of 2006, up $39 million from 2005. NetSol Projection NetSol Technologies Inc., a Calabasas software provider, expects to grow its fiscal 2007 revenue by 60 percent to $30 million, the company said. That would work out to between $0.10 to $0.13 per share for the year. The sunny attitude is the result of an increase in demand for the company’s LeaseSoft product suite, and the company is “confident that our sales and services pipeline will support the significant increase in revenue,” said CEO Naeem Ghauri. Staff Reporter Chris Coates can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected] .