Mortgage lender Delta Financial seemed OK, at least, before yesterday.
The Woodbury-based company was keeping its head while its competitors, like American Home Mortgage, were losing their footing.
Long Island Business News finance reporter Laura Theis just last week wrote a story about how the lender is staying afloat.
From her story:
For the few originators that stayed above the fray, such as Woodbury-based Delta Financial, these are the good days, with competitors falling by the wayside. Only 5 percent of Delta’s loans were of the adjustable variety back in 2003, said Drew Biondo, Delta’s director of corporate communications, adding Delta has always stayed focused on more conservative fixed-rate mortgages.
“Rather than attempting to quickly gain market share, as many companies did, we maintained our guidelines,” Biondo said.
The result: Delta saw significant growth in first quarter 2007, when its loan volume increased a whopping 31 percent to $1.2 billion. Delta shares, meanwhile, traded Monday at $10.10, solidly within their 52-week range of $7.26 to $13.60.
However, yesterday Delta failed to file its quarterly earnings and — perhaps its greatest foul — it did not release a reason for the delay.
So the stock plummeted more than 30 percent yesterday, and it’s already down 11 percent this morning.
At first thought, a mortgage company would only withhold information in this market climate if the news is really bad.
Keep your eye on DFC today.
