More write-down woes seen for Merrill

Merrill Lynch could face at least $8 billion in write-downs for mortgage-related securities in the fourth quarter.

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. could face at least $8 billion in write-downs for mortgage-related securities in the fourth quarter, according to a research by two analysts cited in published reports.
The write-down would come on the heels of the $7.9 billion subprime-mortgage-related loss that the company announced last quarter.
David Trone, an analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton Inc., lowered his fourth-quarter earnings-per-share estimate on Merrill Lynch to a loss of $4.07 from a previously estimated gain of $1.51, according to a MarketWatch report.
The change reflects increasing expectations that the large financial services company will report more problems with its asset-backed securities and collateralized debt obligation (CDO) portfolios, Mr. Trone wrote.
Merrill had about $15.8 billion in CDOs and $5.7 billion in subprime mortgage-related exposure and the end of the third quarter, Mr. Trone said.
Credit Suisse Group analyst Susan Roth Katzke also expects Merrill to take $8 billion in new write-downs during the fourth quarter, and boosted her loss-per-share estimate to $4.15 from a previously projected loss of $3, according to the Bloomberg report.
The estimates are double the $4.5 billion write-down predicted by Citigroup Inc. analyst Prashant Bhatia on Dec. 5.