NEW YORK — Freddie Mac beat Wall Street’s expectations in the first quarter, but the mortgage-finance company didn’t vanquish concerns about its ability to weather the housing bust.
Changes in accounting practices helped McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac achieve better-than-expected results Wednesday. For example, Freddie adjusted how it accounts for derivatives, financial instruments used to hedge against swings in interest rates.
Under the new accounting practices, the company said it lost more than $1.3 billion on those derivatives in the first quarter, versus a loss of nearly $2.3 billion in the 2007 fourth quarter.
Freddie reported a first-quarter loss of $151 million, or 66 cents a share, beating expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
The Associated Press
