What happened
Annaly Capital Management (NLY 1.02%), a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) perhaps best known for its ultra-high-yield dividend, had a forgettable day on the market Thursday. The company's share price dipped by almost 6% after it reported its latest quarterly results.
So what
Annaly unveiled its fourth-quarter figures after market hours on Wednesday, revealing that its net interest income came in at just over $135 million. That was well down from almost $361 million in the same quarter the previous year; it also fell drastically short of the average analyst estimate of $406 million.
The picture was a little brighter on the bottom line, where Annaly improved its non-generally acceptable accounting principles (non-GAAP, adjusted) net income by 2% year over year to slightly over $448 million ($0.89 per share). The collective prognosticator estimate, however, was $0.93 per share.
As a mortgage REIT dependent on short-term funding to finance the mortgage-backed securities foundational to its business, Annaly was deeply affected by the Federal Reserve's series of interest rate raises in 2022.
Now what
While Annaly did not proffer any guidance for future periods, it did sound an optimistic note about the coming months, quoting CEO David Finkelstein as saying they "are encouraged by the improvements we have seen to date in the investment environment."
Those analysts tracking the stock are more cautious. While they're collectively modeling a nearly 20% improvement on the top line this year over next, they simultaneously believe per-share net income will shrink by almost 18%.
