Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of mortgage insurer PMI Group (NYSE: PMI) were getting throttled by investors today, losing as much as 15% in intraday trading after the company reported first-quarter results.

So what: Obviously, investors were expecting some sign from PMI Group that there's light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, the first quarter didn't exactly provide that. Total revenue climbed 11% from last year and topped Wall Street's estimates, but the primary driver was changes in fair-value measurements for debt instruments. Premiums earned for the quarter fell by 21%. Meanwhile, the bottom line showed a $0.79-per-share loss, which was better than the $1.90 loss last year but noticeably worse than the $0.38 loss that analysts were looking for.

Now what: Possibly even more concerning for PMI investors was the company's acknowledgement that mounting losses will probably put the company out of compliance with regulatory requirements in the second quarter. That means it may face the possibility of not being able to write new business in some states. This shouldn't be too terribly shocking for PMI shareholders, though. Like competitors MGIC Investment (NYSE: MTG) and Radian Group (NYSE: RDN), PMI simply isn't in good shape after the beating it took during the housing meltdown. At this point, survival is the name of the game, and it's hard to expect that the numbers will look particularly pretty for some time to come.

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