But they said it could see deeper cutbacks and lose ground to competitors while weathering a housing crisis expected to last at least 18 more months. "At the end of the day, in this environment, Countrywide is not in as strong a position as its biggest competitor, Wells Fargo," Cannon said.
Stan Ross, chairman of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California, said Countrywide will face intense competition as big and small lenders move to focus on prime loans, a sector once dominated by Countrywide. "It's going to take time, and I think their cutbacks are going to be greater than perhaps we anticipate," Ross said.
Countrywide dominated the industry when interest rates began to plummet at the start of the decade and competitors rushed to make subprime loans. The company didn't lead the charge to make those loans, "but as an industry leader, they were right there," said Robert Napoli, an analyst with Piper Jaffray. "They have an effect on the market. They have to, being the biggest," he said.