Tim Mattke
Analyst · Terry Ma from Barclays
Thanks, Dianna and good morning, everyone. I am happy to report we again delivered a solid quarter, capping another year of excellent financial results while returning meaningful capital to our shareholders. Our performance is a testament to the dedication and hard work of each member of our team. Their ability to adapt to market dynamics has been instrumental in our success. During the year, we continued to benefit from favorable credit trends, prudent risk management strategies, the disciplined approach to the market and a focus on through-the-cycle performance. We remain committed to delivering long-term value for our shareholders as we begin the new year. Turning to a few highlights. In the fourth quarter, we earned $185 million of net income and produced an annualized 15.2% return on equity. For the full year, we earned $713 million. At the end of the quarter, insurance in force, the main driver of future revenue stood strong at $294 billion. The overall credit quality of our insurance portfolio remains solid, with an average FICO origination of 746 and an average original LTV of 93%. We wrote $11 billion of NIW in the fourth quarter and $46 billion of NIW for the full year. The level of NIW in the year is primarily a reflection of the smaller MI origination market. Underwriting standards remain strong and our NIW continues to have strong credit characteristics. We continue to experience the headwinds of small origination market, driven by current interest rates and affordability challenges. The supply of homes for sale remains limited due to the lock-in effect for homeowners with mortgages that have interest rates well below the current market rate. The same borrowers were also significantly out of the money to refinance, which has led to historically low refinance volumes across the mortgage origination industry, including the MI market. Those headwinds are offset by the tailwinds that higher interest rates have on persistency on our insurance in force. Annual persistency ended the fourth quarter at 86%, up from 82% a year ago and 66% at the end of 2021. The net result of lower NIW and increased persistency is that our insurance in force has remained relatively flat during the year, consistent with what we expected at the start of the year. While prices continue to be resilient despite affordability challenges and high interest rates, although the current supply/demand dynamic creates challenges for first time homebuyers, this dynamic continues to support home prices and helps mitigate the downside risk of home prices. Many economic forecasts indicate home prices being relatively flat in 2024 which we believe will be a long-term positive for our industry. While there is still some uncertainty, the housing market remains resilient and the outlook for it and the economy is generally positive. Although the supply of homes available for sale as well, there is pent-up demand and demographic trends suggest meaningful long-term MI opportunities as the millennial and Gen-Z populations continue to demonstrate a strong desire for homeownership. Given the cross currents I just discussed, we expect the MI market to be roughly the same size in 2024 as it was in 2023. Taking a look at the credit performance of our insurance portfolio, our delinquency inventory and rates continue to be at historic lows. To-date, we have not seen a material change in the credit performance of our portfolio overall and early payment defaults remain at very low levels, which we believe is a good indicator of near-term credit performance. As a result of the strength and flexibility of our capital position during the year, we paid $600 million in dividends from MGIC to the holding company, including a previously announced $300 million dividend in the fourth quarter. We also returned approximately $460 million of capital to our shareholders through a combination of repurchasing common stock and paying a quarterly common stock dividend, which was increased by 15% in the third quarter. As I mentioned on our last call, with our debt-to-capital ratio and our target range and with the debentures being fully retired, we have completed our planned delevering activities and we expect our capital return payout to increase from a low level in [Technical Difficulty]. That was the case in the fourth quarter as we repurchased 7 million shares of common stock for $123 million and paid a quarterly $0.115 per share dividend to our shareholders for a total of $32 million. We continue to expect share repurchases will remain a primary means of returning capital to shareholders. In 2024, through January 26, we repurchased an additional 1.8 million shares of common stock for a total of $34 million. Our recent share repurchase activity reflects the capital strength and financial results previously highlighted and share price levels that we believe are attractive to generate long-term value for remaining shareholders. As of January 26, we had $240 million remaining on our current share repurchase authorization. The Board authorized $0.115 per common stock dividend to be paid on March 5. We are very active across our reinsurance program during the fourth quarter and Nathan will share details on our reinsurance activities. Before turning it over to Nathan, I’d like to share a few more comments. I am happy to report that in January, S&P upgraded MGIC’s financial strength and credit ratings to A- and upgraded the credit rating of the holding company to BBB- and the holding company is now fully investment grade. The outlook for the ratings is stable. S&P’s rationale for the upgrades include an improved view of MGIC’s capital adequacy resulting from the implementation of S&P’s revised capital adequacy methodology, MGIC’s risk management, disciplined approach to underwriting, resulting in strong portfolio quality and prudent use of reinsurance. Lastly, as many of you know, Steve Thompson, our Chief Risk Officer will be embarking on a well-earned retirement in March after serving the company for more than 25 years. I am proud to have Steve serve as my first CRO in my tenure as CEO. Thank you, Steve, for your passion and the dedication and leadership that you demonstrated everyday. Nathan will assume the responsibility for overseeing the risk management department in addition to the finance department upon Steve’s retirement. With that, let me turn it over to Nathan.