LPS seeks incentives for jobs

[JeffreyS]

You may be correct but it was from an employee at Harden that I was told Fidelity owned the building.

[stjr]

They also own the Everbank building.

I don't think so, every tenant owns a part of the building that Everbank has its name on, and Harden Associates spearheaded that development. This explains why Volpe wanted to sue Auchter when it defaulted on the building. My understanding from friends who are partners with the companies is that each company is a fractional owner of the building.

I think Mtrain has this right.  A search of the property records shows Fidelity or LPS owning their properties.  City records show the Everbank Bldg. is owned by Riverside Avenue Partners Ltd. with the registered agent, per the Secretary of State, being Paul Lunetta, President, Harden and Associates.

[mtraininjax]

You may be correct but it was from an employee at Harden that I was told Fidelity owned the building.

I heard from one of the partners of Harden and Associates, that they, the partners own their part of the building with every tenant owning their part of the building as well. Makes for better management when the users are the owners.

Fidelity may have owned the land or still own the land, but they do not own the building.

[stjr]

Want to know what LPS does and what their prospects are?  See below:

Wall Street Journal * JANUARY 10, 2010

Finding a Money Maker in the Housing Catastrophe

By JACK WILLOUGHBY

An investment in the shares of Lender Processing Services (LPS) offers investors a way to profit from the current housing malaise.

The prosaically named Jacksonville, Fla., company specializes in processing mortgage transactions, including those related to foreclosures. In fact, it can do such back-office work more cheaply than most lenders can do it themselves. That's why 41 of the top 50 U.S. banks use some of LPS's suite of more than 30 services.

These days, foreclosures account for a lot of the company's work. But the mortgage specialist's services should remain in demand after the housing slump ends.

"The scope of our services is so broad," says 47-year-old CEO Jeff Carbiener. "We play a major role across the entire spectrum, from origination, to servicing through default. That's why we expect to grow faster than the market." His company is already the nation's biggest provider of mortgage-processing services, handling more than 55% of all home loans.

This year, LPS is expected to earn $3.46 a share on $2.6 billion in revenue, up from an estimated $3.09 on $2.3 billion in 2009 and $2.41 on $1.86 billion in 2008.

LPS divides its operations into two segments. The first -- technology, data and analytics -- includes mortgage processing. It contains the higher-margin custom-reporting businesses built around a software platform that provides lenders with detailed information about the makeup, performance and risks in their portfolios. LPS makes a fee averaging $1 per loan per month for every loan it maintains. The company also earns fees on aggregate data about the mortgage marketplace, which it supplies to customers.

The second segment -- loan transactions -- provides outsourced services for all stages of a loan, from appraisal, inspection and title search through origination and handling of defaults. Over the past three years, default services have grown. They now account for two-thirds of the segment's $1.3 billion in annual revenue.

And, for now, says Montana-based D.A. Davidson analyst John Kraft, "This is one of the few ways to make a long investment on events that are crippling the U.S. economy. This is a good way to hedge your portfolio." Mr. Kraft rates the company's stock a "buy," with a one-year price target of $50.

As the adage says, one man's misfortune is another's boon.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126308288998923447.html

[fsu813]

If you had read Barron's last weekend, you probably weren't surprised to learn that Lender Processing Services Inc. is looking to add jobs.

A couple of days before LPS executives met with Jacksonville city officials about possible incentives for an expansion, the weekly financial newspaper spotlighted LPS's growth potential in the current mortgage environment.

Jacksonville-based LPS, which was spun off from Fidelity National Information Services Inc. in 2008, is well known for the mortgage processing services it offers to the nation's banks. About one-half of all U.S. mortgage loans are processed by the company's systems.

But in addition to helping banks process payments from their good customers, LPS also offers services to help them handle mortgage defaults. With the number of foreclosures continuing to rise, Barron's said LPS's stock price is poised to rise another 20 percent after a 38 percent gain in 2009.

"This is one of the few ways to make a long investment on events that are crippling the U.S. economy," D.A. Davidson analyst John Kraft told Barron's.

And of course, since LPS continues to dominate the market for processing good mortgage loans, the company will also profit when the housing market improves.

LPS employs about 2,100 people in Jacksonville and has more than 6,000 additional workers in other states. The company is considering adding several hundred more jobs that may go to Jacksonville or to other LPS offices, depending on financial incentive packages that are available. LPS Chief Executive Jeff Carbiener met with Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton last week to discuss possible incentives, but neither the company nor the mayor's office gave specific details.




http://jacksonville.com/business/columnists/mark_basch/2010-01-11/story/basch_mortgage_defaults_have_lender_process_services

[stjr]

If you had read Barron's last weekend, you probably weren't surprised to learn that Lender Processing Services Inc. is looking to add jobs.

FSU, this is the same article I posted just above yours.  The Wall Street Journal owns Barrons and posts their articles sometimes on its own website as was the case here.

[fsu813]

(ha). guess the T-U was a little late.