Cost cuts help First American post higher profit

The First American Corporation, a business information and insurance provider, on Thursday beat Wall Street expectations and posted a 23 percent jump in first-quarter profit by slashing personnel costs.

During the quarter, the company earned $36 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with $29.3 million, or 32 cents per share a year earlier.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of 26 cents per share on revenue of $1.43 billion for the three-month period ended March 31.

First American said quarterly revenue was $1.38 billion, a 17 percent drop from last year.

Layoffs in the first quarter helped cut salary and other personnel costs to $462.9 million, the company said, 20 percent less than last year. The company did not detail the total number of layoffs in the quarter, but said 365 workers were cut from its title insurance segment.

As of Dec. 31, the company had 31,411 employees.

Title insurance typically is bought only when someone purchases a house. With the housing market mired in a slump, not as many people are buying title insurance.

Shares of First American rose $1.84, or 7 percent, to $28.19 in early afternoon trading.