With Sallie Mae and other student lenders struggling to find financing amid the credit squeeze, what’s the trade as fewer students can find access to affordable loans?
Earlier on CNBC, Jim Rohr, CEO of PNC , which is a large student lender, said:
"Today, that securitization opportunity is over, so if you want to originate, you have to keep it on your books. You're not getting paid for that...Student lending has been a historic business for us and we're staying, but a number of people who have modest relationships have elected to get out."
This has potential to become a serious problem, according to Karen Finerman. Student financing woes could spill over into education stocks as well, she said. Especially at risk are Career Education Corp., Corinthian Collegesand ITT Educational Services , which Finerman referred to as having subprime-like student loan exposure.
DeVry is probably the best suited to weather this storm, she said, because it has lower defaults. But we won’t be able to tell the full extent of the problem for another few months when the real lending season gets underway ahead of the new school year.
Always looking on the bright side, Guy Adami recommended Apollo Group , the parent company of the University of Phoenix, because it looks to him like the stock has bottomed.
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Trader disclosure: On Apr. 17, 2008, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s Fast Money were owned by the Fast Money traders: Najarian Owns (AAPL), (BIIB), (CSCO), (ETFC), (NOK), (TSO), (XLF), (YHOO), (BSC) Calls, (CHK) Calls, (COP) Calls, (GOOG) Calls, (MSFT) Calls, (POT) Calls; Finerman’s Firm Is Short Pounds, (IYR), (IJR), (SPY), (IWM), (MDY), (COF), Owns (BJS), (MO), (MSFT), (NYX), (SUN), (TSO), (VLO), (YHOO); Finerman Owns (GS); Finerman’s Firm and Finerman Own (FLS); Macke Owns (MSFT), (DIS), (YHOO), (INTC)
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