Shares of Capital One Financial have taken a beating this week as analysts cast a more pessimistic eye on the company's outlook for further losses in its lending portfolio.

On Tuesday, the McLean, Virginia-based financial services company increased its forecast of the amount of bad loans it may write off next year by several hundred million dollars. The move came as major banks and financial institutions are confronting the fallout from the mortgage industry crisis.

In recent days, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have announced billions of dollars in additional investment losses from mortgage-backed securities, causing the broader stock market to fall sharply.

Capital One shares fell 16 percent Wednesday - its biggest, single-day loss in more than a year - to close at $50.21, down sharply from more than $80 a share in June. The stock tumbled a day after the company warned in a regulatory filing that rising loan delinquencies and housing-market problems could increase its credit losses for 2008.