Investment Strategy

Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted total return to our stockholders over the long term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We acquire and manage an investment portfolio of our target assets, which include the following:

Agency RMBS, meaning residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) whose principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac);
Mortgage servicing rights (MSR); and
Other financial assets comprising approximately 5% to 10% of our portfolio.

We intend to maintain a well-balanced portfolio consisting of our target assets, with a focus on managing various associated risks, including interest rate, prepayment, credit, mortgage spread and financing risk. The preservation of book value is of paramount importance to our ability to generate total return on an ongoing basis.

Agency RMBS + MSR Advantage

Our paired construction of MSR with Agency RMBS is unique and designed to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns while reducing exposure to fluctuations in interest rates and mortgage spreads.

Agency RMBS

Agency RMBS are securities collateralized by fixed rate mortgage loans, adjustable-rate mortgage loans or hybrid mortgage loans, or derivatives thereof. Payments of principal and interest on Agency RMBS are guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association (or Ginnie Mae), the Federal National Mortgage Association (or Fannie Mae), or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (or Freddie Mac).

Specified Pools are Agency RMBS collateralized by loans that have similar characteristics, such as loan balance, FICO score, coupon, and prepayment protection. Specified pool prepayment speeds are generally slower and more stable than generic RMBS pools. Our primary sources of financing are repurchase agreements.
To-be-announced forward contracts or TBAs are agreements for the purchase (long notional positions) or sale (short notional positions) of Agency RMBS. TBAs may be used as a means of deploying capital until targeted investments are available or to take advantage of temporary displacements, funding advantages or valuation differentials in the marketplace.

MSR

MSRs entitle the servicer to receive compensation from the owner of the mortgage loan in return for performing servicing activities for the underlying mortgage loan. Our MSR business leverages our core competencies in prepayment and credit risk analytics and the MSR assets provide a hedge to our Agency RMBS, hedging both interest rate and mortgage spread risk.

We acquire MSR through established relationships with originators who sell the MSR to us on a flow basis, or as they are created, to ensure a steady, stable pipeline. We also purchase MSR which are aggregated by originators and other sellers and marketed in bulk packages. Although we own the MSR, we do not service the mortgage loans underlying the MSR but rather contract with appropriately licensed third party subservicers to perform substantially all servicing functions.

MSR assets are financed through a combination of repurchase agreements, revolving credit facilities and collateralized securitization transactions.

Learn more about our MSR Program