Sallie Mae down 10% on lack of guidance -- and CEO's wacky conference call

Thursday, Sallie Mae -- known more formally as SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) -- lost $2.36 a share, closing at $20.53. The cause of this dramatic loss, over 10% on the day, was the failure of the firm's new CEO, Albert Lord, to reassure analysts that he is in control of Sallie Mae and has a plan for turning things around. In fact, during an analyst conference call on Wednesday, Lord was downright bizarre, refusing to provide any income projections and, worse, making bad jokes and cursing audibly.

Yesterday wasn't the first bad day for Sallie Mae, not by a long shot. In the last few weeks, news about Sallie Mae has been universally bad. In October, the private equity firm J. C. Flowers lowered the value of its buyout offer by 20%. The ensuing struggle over the buyout, as well as changes in federal law that may make students loans less profitable, helped send the stock down from the $50 range to the $30s. And it's been all downhill ever since.

In Wednesday's conference call, Lord repeatedly refused to answer analyst questions about 2008, despite the fact that SLM lowered guidance last week. He invited analysts to a meeting in New York next month, saying that they should "get there early because I can assure you, you will be going through a metal detector." Then, to make matters worse, at the end of the call he was heard to say, "There's no questions, let's get the [expletive] out of here."

With leadership like that, it looks like Sallie Mae has a long way to go before investors feel secure enough to jump back in.

[Update: There have been more developments this morning, which I will elaborate on soon enough.]