Moody's shares slide on lawsuit worries

Shares in credit rating agency Moody's Corp slid 6 percent on Friday as it faces a possible federal fraud lawsuit over its pre-crisis debt ratings.

The U.S. Justice Department and multiple states are discussing suing Moody's for defrauding investors, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, but any such move will likely wait until the lawsuit against rival Standard & Poor's is tested in the courts.

Last week, the U.S. government launched a $5 billion civil suit against S&P and its parent, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc , over mortgage bond ratings.

"If the question has become when, and not if, a lawsuit will be filed against Moody's, then the shares are simply unbuyable, in our view," BTIG analyst Mark Palmer said.

Moody's already faces fraud claims filed from private investors. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, King County in Washington state, and other investors are suing the firm over losses in Cheyne, a structured investment vehicle.

Moody's and S&P have long faced criticism from investors, politicians and regulators for assigning high ratings to thousands of subprime and other mortgage securities that turned sour.

Moody's shares slid to $43.89 on Friday morning, before bouncing back to $44.97 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have fallen around 20 percent since news of the S&P investigation.

"I don't know how a portfolio manager can explain why he was holding the stock when this legal Damocles is hanging over Moody's," Palmer said.

SEES STRONG FY PROFIT

The threat of Federal action overshadowed a 66 percent jump in quarterly earnings. Moody's did not address the concerns in its earnings statement, in which it talked instead about a strong 2013.

Moody's and S&P have done well as firms refinance debt to take advantage of rock-bottom interest rates to access cheap funding.

Moody's corporate finance business rose 73 percent to $244.9 million in the latest quarter.

The company said it expects full-year earnings in the range of $3.45 to $3.55 per share and revenue growth in the high single digits percent range.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn $3.18 per share, excluding items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

However, Moody's signaled that the growth in its Investors Service unit, which houses the bond rating business, is set to slow. The company forecast full-year revenue growth at the unit in the high-single-digit percent range, compared with the 20 percent rise in 2012.

Revenue from structured finance -- the rating of complex bonds such as collateralized loan obligations and commercial mortgage-backed securities -- is expected to grow in the mid-single digit percent range for the full year.

The complicated debt structures were blamed for magnifying the chaos caused by the subprime mortgages and issuance fell after the crisis.

But as the consumer and auto loans are increasingly being bundled into securities in the United States, the fortunes at the business are turning around.

U.S. structured finance revenue grew 50 percent in the fourth-quarter.

Net income in the quarter rose to $160.1 million, or 70 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, from $96.2 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 33 percent to $754.2 million.

(Editing by Rodney Joyce and Supriya Kurane)