Fannie Mae may fall more, need bailout - Barron's

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Fannie Mae (FNM.N), the largest U.S. home funding company, could face further declines in its already battered share price, and may soon need a government bailout, according to the latest issue of Barron's.

Shares of the government-sponsored enterprise have fallen 65 percent since last fall, amid a worsening U.S. housing crisis sparked by widespread availability of so-called subprime mortgages to borrowers with weak credit.

Barron's said the company, which lost $2.6 billion last year, has a balance sheet that appears loaded with "iffy" assets and understated liabilities that could leave the company ill-equipped to weather a serious financial crisis.

Although the government would likely bail the company out in such a scenario, by honoring its debt and obligations, Fannie Mae shareholders "would likely suffer grievously in such a scenario," the article said.

A considerable portion of the company's losses have come from "speculative forays into higher-yielding but riskier mortgage products like subprime, Alt-A (a category between subprime and prime in credit quality) and dicey mortgages requiring monthly payments of interest only or less," Barron's said.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson, editing by Richard Chang)