Chimera Investment Corporation
Q1 2015 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 12 May 2015

[Operator:]

Good morning and welcome to the Chimera Investment Corporation First Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Willa Sheridan. Please go ahead.

[Willa Sheridan:]

Good morning and welcome to the first quarter 2015 earnings call for Chimera Investment Corporation. Any forward-looking statements made during today's call are subject to risks and uncertainties which are outlined in the risk factors section in our most recent annual and quarterly SEC filings. Actual events and results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. We encourage you to read the forward-looking statement disclaimer in our earnings release in addition to our quarterly and annual filings. Additionally, the content of this conference call may contain time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of the date of this earnings call. We do not undertake and specifically disclaim any obligation to update or revise this information. Participants on this morning's call include Matthew Lambiase, President and Chief Executive Officer; Rob Colligan, Chief Financial Officer; Mohit Marria, Chief Investment Officer; Bill Dyer, Head of Underwriting; and Choudhary Yarlagadda, Head of Structuring. I will now turn the conference over to Matthew Lambiase.

[Matthew Lambiase:]

Thank you, Willa. Good morning and welcome to the first quarter earnings call for Chimera Investment Corp. I’ll make a few comments and then I will turn the call over to Rob Colligan, our CFO to discuss the company’s financial results and afterwards, we’ll open up the call for questions. On March 17, Chimera’s Board of Directors declared a one-for-five reverse stock split and declared $0.48 per share dividend which was a 6.7% increase over prior year period. They also give guidance that we will pay dividends of $0.48 per share for each quarter for the remainder of 2015. Chimera had solid first quarter core earnings of $0.59 per share and our taxable income in the period covered our dividend payout. At the end of the quarter the company operated at a recourse leverage ratio of 2.6

[Robert Colligan:]

Thanks, Matt and good morning. We had two timing changes for the quarter that I’ll highlight. We announced the one for five reverse stock split, which is reflected in the 10-Q on a retroactive basis to ensure all reporting periods are comparable. All future reports are reflects this change. Also as of January 1, 2015 the company adopted ASU 2014-13 and elected the fair value option for all securitized loans held for investment. The fair value option allows both the loans and related financing to be consistently reported at fair value. We expect fair value changes as loans and related financing to be more closely correlated going forward, which will simplify and improve the transparency of the financial statements. The implementation of the new accounting guidance created a one-time implementation loss of $12 million, which reduced our GAAP book value. I’ll now review selective financial highlights for the quarter. Our economic return on equity for the quarter was 2% based on the decrease in economic book value offset by dividends per share, which we increased this quarter. A return on investment for the quarter was 2% based on the change in stock price and dividends per share. GAAP net income for the first quarter was $67 million, up from $6 million last quarter but down from a $100 million from the first quarter of 2014. On a Core basis, net income for the first quarter was a $120 million or $0.59 per share, in line with the fourth quarter of 2014 and up $83 million or $0.40 per shared earned in the first quarter of 2014. GAAP book value ended the quarter at $17.14 per share down from fourth quarter, but up 5% from last year. The yield on average interest earning assets was 6.4% down from 6.9% at year end and our average cost of funds was 2.3% down from 2.5% at year end. The net interest spread was 4%, down from 4.4% at year end. Although growth in net spreads were down net interest in terms of dollars earned continued to trend up as we reinvest for the future. First quarter net interest income was $183 million up 3% from year end and up over 85% from the first quarter of 2014. Our net interest return on equity was 17% for the quarter up from 16% last quarter and 11% last year. Our return on average equity was 8% up from 1% last quarter was down from 12% last year. The annualized dividend yields for Chimera was 12.2% based on the first quarter dividend of $0.48. That concludes our remarks and we will now open the call for questions.

[Operator:]

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Doug Harter of Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

[Doug Harter:]

Thanks, Matt I was hoping you could talk about the economics of collapsing the Springleaf loans and how that might have progress since you acquire those assets?

[Matt Lambiase:]

Sure, actually I’ll turn the call over to Mohit and he will go through that.

[Mohit Marria:]

Hi, good morning Doug. We obviously as we stated on the Q4 call collapse the first deal in Q4 of last year, we’re in the midst of collapsing the second deal post quarter end and the performance of the collateral has been better than expected since we acquire the portfolio in August of 2014 and the advantage that we are getting for non-weighted securitization as I mentioned on the last earnings call has also improved. The deal that we are working on for Q2 of an effective advance rate of 85% on the entire deals and 90% of the performing balance and the financing rates that we are getting is about a 100 basis points better than what the old deal has we've gotten more equity in the deal and it’s increasing the returns on the retained pieces to the north of 500 to 600 basis points.

[Doug Harter:]

So I guess does that – how will we see those better economics, will that show up as a gain or will that show up through kind of a wider yield that will be reflected over the life?

[Mohit Marria:]

It will be wider yield reflected over time and it also frees up cash to reinvest given that we have more leverage in the structure to reinvest in another assets.

[Robert Colligan:]

Hey, Doug this is Rob Colligan, you will see our cost of funds going down as each one of deals get refinanced.

[Doug Harter:]

Got it and Mohit if you could just remind us kind of what the pacing is if you have or deal that can be done in the second – refinance in the second quarter kind of after that what should be the timeframe be to expect future deals?

[Mohit Marria:]

Yes. We have three deals that will be for 2015 and three deals in 2016. The first deal for 2015 is happening in April, but the next deal would be in July and the third deal would be in October. So we have one in the third quarter, one in the fourth quarter.

[Doug Harter:]

Great. Thank you.

[Mohit Marria:]

You are welcome. End of Q&A

[Operator:]

Showing no further questions, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Lambiase for any closing remarks.

[Matthew Lambiase:]

Thank you very much for joining us today on the first quarter earnings call and we look forward to speaking to you at the next earnings call.

[Operator:]

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.