Santa Ana-based title insurer First American Financial Corp. on Thursday reported a third-quarter profit of $33.1 million, with earnings and revenue falling into line with Wall Street expectations.
The company, which emerged in a June split of what used to be First American Corp., reported $1 billion of revenue for the quarter, a 9% decrease from a year ago. Analysts expected about $990 million in revenue.
Third-quarter profits for First American were down about 15% but in line with analyst expectations. Last year’s earnings of $38.8 million included nearly $5 million of investment gains.
First American, which counts a market value of about $1.5 billion, writes insurance policies protecting homeowners and holders of other real estate from contesting claims of ownership.
Title orders, driven primarily by mortgage refinancing, were up 2% from the second quarter but down 10% from a year ago, the company said.
September was the busiest month of the year, with 6,600 new orders per day. October’s volumes are “just below” those levels, officials said.
Company executives said they expect the real estate and mortgage markets to remain “challenging” next year.
