Shares of Navient Corp. fell more than 9% in after-hours trading Tuesday, after the student-loan servicer swung to a fourth-quarter loss as higher expenses combined with lower revenue.
Navient
NAVI,
had a loss of $11 million for the quarter, down from a profit of $186 million in the same period last year. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $137 million.
Per-share loss in the fourth quarter was 7 cents. On an adjusted basis, the Wilmington, Del.-based company posted adjusted per-share earnings of 78 cents. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted per-share earnings of 87 cents.
Net interest income was $314 million, compared with $343 million a year earlier. Total other income was $165 million, compared with $168 million a year earlier.
Interest income from federal loans in the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $359 million, down from $401 million in the same period last year. The company said the delinquency rate for these loans increased to 10.6% from 9.2% and are below pre-pandemic levels.
Interest income generated from private education loans in the fourth quarter was $276 million compared to $329 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Navient reported $448 million in operating expenses for the quarter, up from $269 million in the same period last year. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $236 million in operating expenses.
Earlier this month, Navient agreed with 40 state attorneys general to cancel the debt of 66,000 borrowers totaling $1.7 billion and make a one-time payment of $145 million to the states. The company said in a regulatory filing that the expense to cancel the loans was roughly $50 million. It also said it would book a $170 million regulatory expense in the fourth quarter.
Through Tuesday’s close, shares of Navient are down nearly 13% so far this year.
Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com
