MFA Financial, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results

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NEW YORK, November 06, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) today provided its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024:

  • MFA generated GAAP net income for the third quarter of $40.0 million, or $0.38 per basic common share and $0.37 per diluted common share.

  • Distributable earnings, a non-GAAP financial measure, were $38.6 million, or $0.37 per basic common share. MFA paid a regular cash dividend of $0.35 per common share on October 31, 2024.

  • GAAP book value at September 30, 2024 was $13.77 per common share. Economic book value, a non-GAAP financial measure, was $14.46 per common share.

  • Total economic return was 3.3% for the third quarter.

  • Net interest spread averaged 2.18% and net interest margin was 3.00%.

  • MFA closed the quarter with unrestricted cash of $305.6 million.

"We are pleased to report strong results for the third quarter," stated Craig Knutson, MFA’s Chief Executive Officer. "We generated Distributable earnings of $0.37 per share and our Economic book value rose approximately 1% to $14.46 per share from $14.34 at June 30. We purchased or originated over $565.2 million of residential mortgage loans with an average coupon of 9.4%. We also added $294 million of Agency MBS at attractive yields. We completed two loan securitizations during the quarter and two more subsequent to quarter-end."

"With a 50 basis point rate cut at its September meeting, the Federal Reserve began an easing cycle that should benefit mortgage REITs and other levered fixed income investors," Mr. Knutson added. "This is a welcome development after a challenging period of restrictive monetary policy and an inverted yield curve. Although it remains to be seen how long this cycle lasts and how far the Fed ultimately cuts rates, a return to a more neutral policy rate and the normalization of the yield curve should both serve as tailwinds for our business."

"Finally, we were delighted to announce in late August that Bryan Wulfsohn will serve as President of MFA and that Lori Samuels has been named Chief Loan Operations Officer. Bryan and Lori are exceptionally talented leaders who have each been at MFA for nearly 15 years. We are proud to elevate them into new roles," concluded Mr. Knutson.

Q3 2024 Portfolio Activity

  • Loan acquisitions were $565.2 million, including $329.0 million of funded originations of business purpose loans (including draws on Transitional loans) and $236.2 million of Non-QM loan acquisitions, bringing MFA’s residential whole loan balance to $9.0 billion.

  • Lima One funded $196.0 million of new business purpose loans with a maximum loan amount of $312.3 million. Further, $132.9 million of draws were funded on previously originated Transitional loans. Lima One generated $8.9 million of mortgage banking income.

  • MFA added $293.9 million of Agency MBS during the quarter, bringing its Agency MBS portfolio to $993.5 million.

  • Asset dispositions included $241.5 million of single-family rental (SFR) loans and $16.0 million of credit risk transfer (CRT) securities. MFA also sold 58 REO properties in the third quarter for aggregate proceeds of $18.3 million.

  • 60+ day delinquencies (measured as a percentage of UPB) for MFA’s residential loan portfolio increased to 6.7% from 6.5% in the second quarter.

  • MFA completed two loan securitizations during the quarter, collateralized by $643.4 million UPB of Non-QM and Legacy RPL/NPL loans, bringing its total securitized debt to approximately $5.3 billion.

  • MFA increased its position in interest rate swaps to a notional amount of approximately $3.5 billion. At September 30, 2024, these swaps had a weighted average fixed pay interest rate of 1.91% and a weighted average variable receive interest rate of 4.96%.

  • MFA estimates the net effective duration of its investment portfolio at September 30, 2024 rose to 1.16 from 1.12 at June 30, 2024.

  • MFA’s Debt/Net Equity Ratio was 4.8x and recourse leverage was 1.8x at September 30, 2024.