Ellington Financial's Historical Value Creation May Offer Insights Into Its Future Returns

I just had my first article published on Seeking Alpha in over a year and a half!

My most recent article analyzes Ellington Financial, Inc. (EFC), a real estate investment trust, or REIT that invests primarily in mortgage-related assets. In my article, I use the same methodology I've used in the past to analyze companies such as Crédit Agricole Du Languedoc and Sixth Street Specialty Lending to analyze Ellington Financial's historical value creation. By examining the company's net asset value (NAV) growth and annual dividends, I examine whether it might be a high quality company for investment... (Read More)

 

Dynex Capital's Historical Value Creation May Offer Insights Into Its Future Returns

Dynex Capital, Inc. (DX) is a mortgage real estate investment trust, or mREIT. The company invests in mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, securities whose income is based on the performance of pools of mortgages.

I’ve written two recent articles about mREITs Ladder Capital (LADR) and Anworth Mortgage (ANH). Both those articles were written because those mREITs look cheap. Dynex Capital does not look cheap. The company trades at a price to book ratio of 94%. In contrast, Anworth and Ladder have, respectively, P/B ratios a little over 60%. The market certainly seems to think it is a higher quality company than other mortgage REITs, given how much higher its valuation is.

To see if Dynex Capital is a high quality company, we can use the methodology I used in my previous mREIT articles. We can look at how much value the company has historically created for shareholders. This will help us predict the company’s future value creation, and thus the company’s possibilities for future share price growth and dividends. (Read More)

Anworth Mortgage's Value Creation Since Its IPO May Offer Insights Into Its Future Returns

Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation (ANH) is a mortgage real estate investment trust, or mREIT. The company invests in residential mortgages as well as mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, securities whose income is based on the performance of pools of residential mortgages. Those securities include both agency-backed MBS whose performance is guaranteed by Fannie Mae (OTC:FDDXD) and Freddie Mac (OTC:FMCC), as well as non-agency MBS whose performance is not guaranteed. According to the company’s most recent quarterly report, over 70% of Anworth’s investments were in agency MBS.

By several metrics, Anworth’s stock looks cheap. The company’s price to book ratio on August 13th was 63%. This means each share of the company’s stock trading at $1.81 a share corresponded to around $2.85 of the company’s equity. Anworth also has a dividend yield of around 11%.

In that context, Anworth’s cheapness raises a question. Is it a high quality company I can “buy and hold” forever while it compounds my investment?

To see if Anworth Mortgage Asset Corporation is a high quality company, we can use the same methodology I used in my recent article about Prospect Capital. We can look at how much value the company has created for shareholders since its 1998 IPO. This will help us predict the company’s future value creation, and thus the company’s possibilities for future share price growth and dividends. (Read More)

How Much Value Has Ladder Capital Created For Shareholders Since Its IPO?

One of my favorite investment bloggers, Clark Street Value, recently wrote about mortgage real estate investment trust (mREIT) Ladder Capital (LADR). Ladder mainly invests in commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS), or pools of mortgage loans to businesses.

The post described how Ladder is well positioned to survive the current downturn due to its high quality assets and use of unsecured debt to fund those assets. It provided much information about both topics; I encourage interested readers to read it.

As an investor, though, I am not just interested in how well a company might survive the current downturn. I am also interested in the long term value the company can generate for me if I invest.

This is especially important since downturns offer two common types of opportunities for investors:

1.  High quality companies trading at a modest discount from normal prices.
2.  More average companies trading at a much larger discount to their intrinsic value.

In the long run, high quality companies compound an investor’s capital far more than average ones. This is true even if those average companies are purchased at much cheaper valuations.

In that context, after reading Clark Street Value’s post, I was curious which type of company Ladder Capital is. Is it a high quality company I can “buy and hold” forever while it compounds my investment? (Read More)