MGIC Investment Corporation (NYSE:MTG) is the parent of Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC), the nation's leading provider of private mortgage insurance. PrivateMI is a critical component of the nation's residential mortgage finance system, protecting mortgage investors from credit losses on low-down-payment home loans. PrivateMI benefits consumers in that it helps them achieve homeownership sooner -- rather than later -- by making low-down-payment loans a reality. Based in Milwaukee, MGIC has about 1,100 employees in 28 offices nationwide and serves over 4,000 lenders with locations across the country and in Puerto Rico.

MGIC Investment went public in August 1991. That year, the company earned $75 million and had a market capitalization of $1.2 billion. In 2000, its ninth full year as a publicly traded company, MGIC Investment earned $542 million and at year's end, had a market capitalization of approximately $6.4 billion.

The company has achieved strong financial results by focusing on the fundamentals of revenue growth, credit quality, and productivity. In 2000, MGIC Investment's earnings of $542 million were an all-time high and its operating earnings per share of $5.18 represented a 24 percent increase over the prior year's operating earnings. For the most recent financial information, click on "News and Financials".

In 2000, the company wrote $41.5 billion of new insurance, more than any of its competitors. Growth in MGIC's primary insurance in force, which increased 8.5 percent to $162 billion in 2000, and in the market value of its investments, which rose 24 percent to $3.5 billion, brightens the outlook for the future.

MGIC has seen the market for PrivateMI grow rapidly. In 2000, the nation's PrivateMI industry insured 16 percent of all home loans, up sharply from 1990 when the industry insured 8.5 percent of total new mortgages. Reasons for the growth include favorable demographic trends and improved housing affordability, which have helped the industry tap the nation's demand for homeownership.