Big court ruling today on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today and shareholders do not like the news. Shares of the two GSEs are down about 33 percent at the time of this writing. S3 Partners reports that short-sellers may have made big money from the drop.
Fannie Mae
Photo by NCinDC
Below are a few stats from the S3 Partners’ a financial analytics firm
Shares of both government sponsored entities Fannie Mae (FNMA US) and Freddie Mac (FMCC US) lost as much as a third of their values intra-day after a federal appeals court upheld a rule that blocked hedge funds from suing to collect billions in post-bailout profits.
§ Investors who have bearish positions on the short side of these mortgage guarantors are partying like its 2008 again.
§ According to our proprietary S3 Short Interest Indicator, which measures the real-time relative change in shorting activity, there were as much as $205.1 million and $104.2 million in short exposure (dollars at risk) on Fannie and Freddie as of Friday’s close, respectively.
§ If all shorts were to cover their positions at today’s low point in price, they would have reaped $76.6 million and $41.5 million in paper profits on Fannie and Freddie, net of financing costs, respectively.
Finally, see a press release from Investors Unite below.
Investors Unite: D.C. Circuit Acknowledges Shareholders have Direct Contract Rights
WASHINGTON – Investors Unite Founder Tim Pagliara released the following statement in response to today’s decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals:
“We are pleased that the D.C. Circuit acknowledged that shareholders have direct contract rights which must be respected and we look forward to a resolution of those rights. We respectfully disagree with the opinion that FHFA has the power to do whatever it wants with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Neither HERA, nor any other statute gives it such power. Meanwhile, the net worth sweep continues to place the U.S. taxpayer at risk by depriving these companies of adequate capital. We hope that the Trump Administration will put an end to this wrong by ending the sweep now and restoring the rights of shareholders.”
