Another Down Day for WFS Financial Stock

For the second day in a row, Wall Street battered WFS Financial Inc., pushing the price of the automobile finance company’s stock down 20% Friday. The stock fell $3.56 a share to $14.13, a day after shares lost $1.31. Since Wednesday, when the stock closed at $19 a share, the company has lost more than 25% of its value in Nasdaq trading. Friday’s big blow came after the company reported that earnings fell 37% for the quarter and 14% for the first nine months. In addition, the company said it doesn’t expect revenue to grow much the rest of this year. But the stock dive also shows the overall concern by investors about the heavy credit load consumers have been taking on, said Joy Schaefer, president of WFS. She noted that stock prices for auto financing firms in general have now fallen dramatically twice this year. Schaefer said that WFS executives have tightened up their lending, going after more higher-quality, lower-risk loans that result in lower growth.