May 15 Reuters New York Community Bancorp39;s shares reversed course to trade down 4 as a deal to sell 5 billion of mortgage warehouse loans failed to assuage investors worried about the long road to profitability for the embattled lender.

The deal, already hinted by NYCB, with JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday bolsters its liquidity. However, concerns stemming from the bank39;s exposure to the underpressure commercial real estate CRE still remained.

This warehouse lending is arguably one of the more profitable businesses, in our view, and the path to a respectable return on tangible equity will continue to be a difficult, KBW analysts wrote a note.

Earlier this month, NYCB39;s new management team unveiled a plan to return to profitability next year after a turmoil sparked by a surprise quarterly loss in January wiped billions off its market value, led to a mass exodus of bankers and shrank its total deposits.

Profitability is likely to be close to zero for the next 35 years, Raymond James analyst Steve Moss said.

NYCB has pledged to shrink its CRE lending footprint. CRE loans made up 16 of the bank39;s total at the end of the first quarter.

However, analysts have said NYCB will have to lure buyers for such loans with steep discounts.

Warehouse loans are lines of credit given to lenders who can use the funds to provide mortgages. They are repaid when the mortgage lender sells the loans to an investor.

Such loans accounted for 6, or 5.2 billion, of NYCB39;s total 82.3…