Countrywide Financial (CFC: sentiment, chart, options) is mildly higher at midday, despite the fact that the mortgage lender's first-quarter profit and revenue figures fell well short of the consensus estimate. CFC swallowed a loss of $1.60 per share, while revenue plummeted 72% to $678.9 million. Analysts were expecting a modest loss of just 2 cents per share on $1.53 billion in revenue. This marks Countrywide's third quarter in a row of losses, due in large part to the collapse of the subprime mortgage industry and the ensuing credit crunch.

Over the past 52 weeks, CFC has shed about 85% of its value and is now hovering just south of the 6 level. While the stock is already trading near the proverbial basement, options players are still showing a preference for puts. The May 5 contract is far and away the most popular strike in the front-month series, with open interest of 12,879 contracts. (By comparison, the most popular call contract the May 6 has open interest of just 7,127.)

While CFC is sitting on a fractional gain, Bank of America (BAC) shares are down nearly 1% at last check. The Dow component is slated to acquire CFC during the third quarter.