THANKS, W:

The housing finance company--whose 2008 taxpayer bailout was one of the biggest firestorms of the financial crisis--announced Tuesday the largest net income in the company's history with $17.2 billion hauled in for 2012, and $7.6 billion alone in the fourth quarter of that year.

That meant the company did not request a draw of cash from Treasury for the fourth quarter of 2012, after drawing more than $116 billion from taxpayers in the years following the financial crisis. 

CEO Timothy J. Mayopoulos called those results "terrific" and said they represent a turning point for the company, driven in part by a rebound in the nation's housing market and lower delinquency rates on mortgage loans.

What's more, the company said, it expects to remain profitable for the foreseeable future and that it expected to return "significant value" to the taxpayers who bailed it out in the wake of the financial crisis.

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