First American Corp., one of the largest national title insurers, said Thursday quarterly profit more than tripled, helped by a pickup in refinancings and lower expenses following earlier job cuts.

Net income attributable to shareholders of the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company rose to $70.3 million, or 75 cents per share, from $19.6 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding investment losses, profit was 89 cents per share, the company said. Revenue fell 9 percent to $1.54 billion, while expenses fell 15 percent.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 73 cents per share on revenue of $1.57 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Title insurance guarantees that property owners have title to property and can legally transfer that title. Many lenders require that buyers have the insurance before extending loans.

Revenue from title insurance and related services dropped 16 percent to $935.3 million as the average fee per order fell, though the number of title orders closed grew by 9 percent.

Pretax income in that business was $62.2 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $1 million that stemmed from investment losses, severance and lease terminations.

Also on Thursday, the smaller title insurance provider Stewart Information Services Corp reported a narrower quarterly loss, helped by its own cost cuts. Fidelity National Financial Inc, a major rival of First American, on Monday said quarterly profit rose 13-fold.

Shares of First American closed Wednesday at $28.06 on the New York Stock Exchange. Through Wednesday, they had fallen 3 percent this year.