Freddie, Fannie Shares Will Continue to Slide, Jim Rogers Says

Freddie, Fannie Shares Will Continue to Slide, Jim Rogers Says
By Jeff Kearns and Brian Sullivan
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Freddie Mac, which today dropped the most ever after posting a record loss, and rival mortgage lender Fannie Mae will continue to tumble because of bad home loans, investor Jim Rogers said.
``I'm still short those companies, they both have a long way to go as far as I'm concerned,'' Rogers said in an interview. ``Neither one has a clue what's on their balance sheets.''
Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage company, warned of a possible cut in the dividend and the need for additional capital. The worst housing slump in 16 years caused ``significant deterioration'' in the third quarter that will continue through year-end, Freddie Mac said after reporting a net loss of $2.02 billion, or $3.29 a share, three times what some analysts estimated.
Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith declined to comment on Rogers. Freddie Mac spokesman Michael Cosgrove didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rogers, chairman of New York-based Beeland Interests Inc., also said he is still shorting shares of investment banks and Citigroup Inc., the largest U.S. bank by assets.
``There are huge numbers of writedowns still coming,'' Rogers said.
Rogers, who predicted the start of the global commodities rally in 1999, advised in a Nov. 5 interview with Bloomberg that investors should avoid financial stocks. In March 2006, he said Fannie Mae shares would decline.
Financial stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index have tumbled 22 percent this year, the most among 10 industries. The index fell 2.9 percent to 384.50, the lowest since October 2005, as of 1:13 p.m. in New York.
Rogers co-founded the Quantum Hedge Fund with George Soros in the 1970s. He traveled the world by motorcycle and car in the 1990s researching investment ideas for his books, which include ``Adventure Capitalist'' and ``Hot Commodities.''
To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Kearns in New York at jkearns3@bloomberg.net ; Brian Sullivan in New York at bsullivan@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: November 20, 2007 13:21 EST

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