Adam Pollitzer
Analyst · Bose George from KBW. Your line is now open
Thank you, Brad, and good afternoon, everyone. As Brad mentioned, we had a record quarter. We achieved record NIW of $6.1 billion, and continued our rapid growth in high quality insurance-in-force. Premium yield continue to improve and we achieved record premiums earned of $44.5 million. Losses continued to be modest and expenses were flat quarter-on-quarter, which drove record underwriting ratios. And we achieved strong growth in net income and book value, delivering a nearly 10% annualized return on equity in the quarter. Now to the detailed results, primary insurance-in-force was $43.3 billion at quarter-end, up $4.7 billion, or 12%, from $38.6 billion at the end of the second quarter and up 53%, compared with the third quarter of 2016. As of quarter-end, monthly product represented 66% of our insurance-in-force, which compares with 64% as of the second quarter and 57% as of the third quarter of 2016. Given our current NIW mix and portfolio runoff, we expect that monthly product will continue to increase as a percentage of insurance-in-force. Runoff rate in the quarter was 3.8%, up from 3.4% in the second quarter, reflecting the seasonal uptick in housing turnover. 12-month persistency in the primary book was 85.1%, up from 83.1% last quarter. Weighted average FICO of risk-in-force was 747, which compares with 749 as of the end of the second quarter. This reflects a modest migration of our book to a normalized FICO distribution, which correlates with the higher average rates on our monthly NIW over the past several quarters. Total NIW of $6.1 billion was up 21%, compared with the second quarter. The mix was 79% monthly product, which compares with 81% in the second quarter and 71% in the third quarter last year. Premiums earned for the quarter were $44.5 million, up 17% compared with $37.9 million in the second quarter and up 40% compared with the third quarter of 2016. We earned $4.3 million from cancellation of single premium policies in the third quarter, up from $3.8 million in the second quarter. Reported yield for the quarter was 43.5 basis points, up from 41.3 basis points in the prior quarter. This was driven primarily by increases in core yield attributable to both a higher mix of monthly insurance-in-force and progressively higher average rates on monthly NIW over the past several quarters. These increases more than offset the impact of the ILN, which was in effect for the full quarter versus only two months following the offering on May 1 in the second quarter. Gross premium yield, which is before the impact of reinsurance was 50 basis points, up from 47 basis points in the second quarter. Weighted average rate on NIW across all products in the third quarter was 50 basis points, consistent with the first and second quarters. We expect net or reported yield to be approximately 42 to 43 basis points in the fourth quarter. This reflects an expected continuation of recent trends, offset somewhat by a modest drop in cancellation activity due to a seasonal slowdown in the housing market. Investment income in the third quarter was $4.2 million, up from $3.9 million in the prior quarter. Underwriting and operating expenses in the third quarter were $24.6 million. This compares with expenses of $28 million in the second quarter, which you may recall included $3.1 million of costs related to our ILN transaction. Adjusting for these financing related costs in Q2, expenses were essentially flat quarter-on-quarter. Our expense ratio in the third quarter declined to 55% compared with an adjusted 66% in Q2. We currently expect full year operating expenses will come modestly inside of our previous $108 million guidance. Additionally, we continue to expect that our expenses for the remainder of 2017 and through 2018 will allow us to achieve our return targets. Claims expense was $1 million in the quarter. We had 350 notices of default in the primary book, as of the end of the third quarter, up from 249 at the end of the second quarter. We paid four claims in the quarter compared to eight claims paid in Q2, bringing ever-to-date claims paid to 27. Our third quarter loss ratio, defined as claims expense, divided by net premiums earned, was 2.1%. As we have said previously, we expect our loss ratios over the next several years to be in the low- to mid-single digits. Other expenses of $3.9 million in the quarter included $3.4 million of interest expense and $500,000 attributable to the change in the fair value of the warrant liability. The fair value of the warrant liability is primarily tied to fluctuations in our stock price with the expense generally growing as our stock price rises. We estimated that every $1 movement in the value of our shares drives a $600,000 change in the warrant value and corresponding pre-tax GAAP expense. If our share price remains at current levels through the end of the year, we estimate we will incur $1.8 million pre-tax non-operating expense in the fourth quarter. However, under current accounting guidance, we expect that most of this impact will not be reflected in diluted earnings per share. It's also worth noting that even with this expected impacted net income, we still anticipate achieving our return target for the fourth quarter. Now moving to the bottom line. Net income for the third quarter was $12.3 million or $0.20 per diluted share, up from $6 million or $0.10 per share in the prior quarter. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 37%, which we expect will be our quarterly rate for the remainder of the year. At quarter-end, cash and investments were $713 million, up from $694 million in the prior quarter. As of quarter-end, we had $52 million of cash and investments at the holding company. Book equity at the end of the third quarter was $511 million, equal to $8.53 per share, up from $495 million or $8.27 per share at the end of the second quarter. As of quarter-end, total available assets under PMIERs grew to $495 million, which compares with risk-based required assets of $356 million. In summary, we achieved record results on every key measure of financial performance. As we continue to grow of our book of high-quality mortgage insurance and manage risk and expenses, we expect that our embedded operating leverage will continue to drive margin expansion and increasing returns on equity. With that, let me turn it back over to Brad for his closing remarks.