Santa Ana-based First American Corp. on Thursday said that its earnings continued to be impacted by the slowdown in real estate and mortgage markets in the first quarter, with net income falling to $29.3 million from $83.8 million a year ago.
The decline in net income could have been worse for the title insurance and business information company. Analysts were expecting profits to be even lower, in the $13 million range.
Revenue for First American Orange County’s second-largest company by revenue was $1.7 billion in the first quarter, down 22% from a year ago. Revenue for the company’s core title insurance business fell 26% to $1 billion in the quarter.
The company’s shares were up 10.7% at the close of New York trading. First American counts a market value of about $3.3 billion.
First American is in the process of spinning off its title business into a separate company. During the quarter, the company said it reorganized its business to reflect how the assets and operations will be divided and managed once the separation of its title and information solutions businesses is consummated.
