MGIC's Insurance-in-Force Rebounds in Second Quarter.

MILWAUKEE -- Second-quarter and first-half earnings at MGIC Investment Corp. here were down from one year ago, but a statement from the company's chief executive stressed the positives, which occurred in the past three months.

Earnings for the nation's largest mortgage insurer were $149.8 million, or $1.74 per share, and $313.3 million, or $3.61 per share, for the second quarter and first half of 2006, respectively, down from $174.4 million, or $1.87 per share, and $356.4 million, or $3.77 per share, for the same periods in 2005.

There was a decline in net premiums earned of 5.5%, from $311.6 million in the second quarter 2005 to $294.5 million in the most recent quarter. Net premiums written fell 1.3% in the same period, from $309.2 million down to $305.3 million.

New insurance written for the second quarter was $16.1 billion, including $6 billion of bulk business. In the second quarter of 2005, MGIC wrote $16.6 billion, $6.2 billion of it bulk.

MGIC chairman and chief executive Curt S. Culver said in the earnings release that he was pleased with the resumption of growth of insurance-in-force, there was the expected seasonal decline in delinquencies and there were positive joint venture results during the period.

Insurance-in-force totaled $169.8 billion as of June 30, 2006. As of March 31, 2006, MGIC's primary insurance-in-force was $166.9 billion, which appears to be the bottom point. On Dec. 31, 2005, the company had $170 billion in-force.

Persistency at MGIC continued to rise, hitting 64.1% as of June 30, 2006, up from 61.3% six months prior and 60.9% one year prior. In a conference call to announce the results, Mr. Culver cited this as one of the reasons for the turnaround to growth in primary insurance-in-force.