Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NLY)

Executive Summary / Key Takeaways

• Annaly Capital has engineered a fundamental transformation from a pure-play Agency mortgage REIT into a diversified housing finance platform, generating a 13% annualized economic return over three years by systematically reducing its dependence on any single interest rate outcome.

• The company's fortress balance sheet—$8.8 billion in assets available for financing and economic leverage at a decade-low 5.7x—creates counter-cyclical alpha, allowing NLY to acquire premium assets when competitors are forced sellers, as demonstrated during the April 2025 trade policy volatility.

• Onslow Bay's securitization engine and the MSR portfolio's 3.27% average note rate provide non-correlated income streams that insulate earnings from Agency MBS spread volatility, fundamentally altering the risk/reward profile that traditional mREIT investors still misprice.

• Trading at just 1.19x book value with a 12.24% dividend yield, NLY's valuation reflects legacy mREIT discounting rather than recognizing the earnings stability created by diversification, suggesting potential multiple expansion as the market acknowledges the structural shift.

• The critical variable for 2026 performance is execution: whether management can maintain Onslow Bay's securitization momentum and MSR acquisition pace if interest rate volatility resurfaces, while preserving the low leverage that defines its competitive moat.

Setting the Scene: The Mortgage REIT That Became a Housing Finance Platform

Annaly Capital Management, founded in 1997 as a Maryland corporation and headquartered in New York, spent most of its existence as the quintessential Agency mortgage REIT—borrowing short-term to buy government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities, earning the spread, and hedging interest rate risk. This model worked until it didn't, as periodic rate shocks and prepayment volatility created boom-bust cycles that destroyed book value and forced dividend cuts. The market learned to price these vehicles as leveraged bond funds, commanding discounts to book value and high dividend yields to compensate for inherent instability.

That mental model is now obsolete, yet the market hasn't fully adjusted. On June 30, 2020, Annaly completed its management internalization transaction, acquiring the assembled workforce as an intangible asset. This wasn't merely a cost-saving move—it aligned incentives and provided the strategic flexibility to build something unprecedented in the mREIT space. By 2022, Annaly had scaled three distinct businesses: the Annaly Agency Group, Annaly Residential Credit Group, and Annaly Mortgage Servicing Rights Group. This diversification wasn't about collecting assets; it was about engineering a portfolio where each leg performs optimally under different market conditions, creating a self-hedging ecosystem that generates consistent returns through full rate cycles.

The industry structure underscores the significance of this evolution. Traditional mREITs like AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC) and ARMOUR Residential REIT (ARR) remain pure-play Agency vehicles, making them hostages to interest rate volatility and Federal Reserve policy. Non-bank lenders and private equity funds dominate residential credit but lack permanent capital structures. MSR buyers are fragmented, with most lacking the balance sheet strength to accumulate scale during opportunistic windows. Annaly sits alone at the intersection—large enough to negotiate favorable financing, diversified enough to avoid single-asset concentration, and structured as a REIT to deliver tax-efficient income. This positioning transforms it from a rate bet into a housing finance utility, capturing spreads across the entire mortgage ecosystem.

The Three-Legged Stool: How Each Segment Creates Strategic Value

Agency Group: The Liquid Foundation

The Annaly Agency Group holds $85.8 billion in assets, generating $659 million in net income in Q3 2025 alone. This isn't just a passive MBS portfolio—it's a sophisticated interest rate trading operation that actively manages convexity and financing costs. The group increased its market value quarter-over-quarter to $87.3 billion, with 15% of that growth coming from Agency CMBS and similar appreciation from market value gains. This demonstrates active management alpha, not just beta to the MBS index.

Management's strategy of migrating up the coupon stack into 6% and 6.5% specified pools with call protection characteristics shows deliberate positioning for a muted prepayment environment. With a weighted average coupon of 5% and a hedge ratio of 92%, the Agency book is engineered to capture spread income while minimizing extension risk. The blended yield of 160 basis points over hedging costs translates to nearly 17% ROE on that capital—exceptional returns for what the market considers a commodity business. Annaly's scale and financing advantages create a structural edge that pure-play Agency competitors cannot replicate.

Residential Credit: The Manufacturing Moat

The Annaly Residential Credit Group, operating through the Onslow Bay platform, represents Annaly's most significant strategic innovation. With $35.8 billion in total assets, this segment doesn't just buy non-Agency loans—it manufactures them. In Q3 2025, Onslow Bay closed a record eight securitizations totaling $3.9 billion in unpaid principal balance, generating $479 million of high-yielding proprietary securities retained on Annaly's balance sheet. Year-to-date, 24 securitizations representing $12.4 billion UPB have made Annaly the largest non-bank issuer in residential credit and a top-10 global ABS/MBS issuer.

This manufacturing capability creates assets rather than just acquiring them. The correspondent channel locked $6.2 billion and funded $4 billion in whole loans during Q3, providing the raw material for securitization. By controlling the entire pipeline—from loan origination through securitization and retention—Annaly captures the full value chain spread. The credit quality is pristine: the current lock pipeline shows a 764 weighted average FICO, 68% LTV, and over 95% first-lien composition. This isn't subprime lending; it's prime-adjacent credit that the GSEs have abandoned due to regulatory constraints.

The 2023 vintage deals are prepaying in the low 30s CPR despite being 100-150 basis points in the money, proving the effectiveness of prepayment penalties and other structural protections. This validates the manufacturing process—Annaly isn't just issuing bonds; it's creating assets with superior cash flow characteristics. The non-QM market penetration reaching 8% of all outstanding locks in July 2025, the highest percentage ever, signals a structural shift of prime borrowers into private label markets as GSEs tighten standards. Annaly is positioned to capture this migration at scale.

Mortgage Servicing Rights: The Negative Convexity Hedge

The MSR portfolio, valued at $3.5 billion in Q3 2025, serves as the third leg of the diversification strategy. Annaly purchased $17 billion in UPB during the quarter and announced a partnership with PennyMac Financial Services (PFSI) to acquire $12 billion of low note rate MSR. The portfolio's aggregate borrower note rate of 3.27%—approximately 300 basis points out of the money—provides extraordinary insulation against refinancing waves. This transforms MSR from a volatile asset into a predictable cash flow stream.

Management explicitly states they prefer to take negative convexity risk in Agency MBS rather than MSR because it's "cheaper there," using low note rate MSR to minimize convexity exposure. The portfolio's serious delinquencies remain at just 50 basis points, while escrow balances grew 7% year-over-year. Annaly's subservicer oversight and asset selection create a durable, high-quality income stream that actually benefits from higher rates through slower prepayments, directly hedging the Agency book's extension risk.

Financial Performance: Evidence of Structural Transformation

Annaly's Q3 2025 results provide compelling evidence that the diversification thesis is working. The company generated an 8.1% economic return for the quarter and 11.5% year-to-date, marking eight consecutive quarters of positive economic returns. Earnings available for distribution (EAD) reached $0.73 per share, exceeding the $0.70 dividend and providing 104% coverage. This demonstrates dividend sustainability without relying on asset sales or leverage increases—a historical weakness of the mREIT model.

Net income of $843.1 million ($1.21 per share) compared to $82.4 million ($0.05 per share) in Q3 2024 represents a tenfold increase, driven by favorable derivative marks, higher net interest income, and robust servicing income. The composition of earnings reveals the diversification benefit: Agency contributed $659 million, Residential Credit added $106 million, and MSR contributed $71 million. No single segment dominated, proving the self-hedging nature of the platform.

The balance sheet strength is remarkable. Economic leverage decreased to 5.7x from 5.8x quarter-over-quarter, while GAAP leverage remained at 7.1x. Cash and unencumbered Agency MBS totaled $5.9 billion, with total assets available for financing reaching $8.8 billion. This liquidity provides strategic optionality. During the April 2025 trade policy volatility, while competitors faced margin calls and forced selling, Annaly deployed capital into wider spreads, creating the Q3 performance inflection.

General and administrative expenses increased to $50.3 million in Q3 2025, up $6.4 million year-over-year, driven by higher compensation and technology costs. Management is investing in the platform's infrastructure—Onslow Bay's securitization technology, MSR analytics, and Agency trading systems—creating operating leverage that will benefit future quarters.

Capital Management: The Strategic Weapon

Annaly's capital strategy represents a masterclass in opportunistic financing. In Q3 2025, the company raised $1.1 billion in accretive equity, including $800 million through its ATM program and $275 million in Series J preferred stock—the first preferred issuance by a residential mREIT in multiple years. This demonstrates access to diverse funding sources at attractive costs, a critical advantage when repo markets tighten.

The preferred issuance, with an 8.88% coupon, might seem expensive, but it serves a strategic purpose. It diversifies the capital base away from short-term repo dependence and provides permanent capital to fund illiquid assets like MSR and retained securitization bonds. The ATM program's ability to issue 102 million shares for $2.1 billion (net) during the nine months ended September 30, 2025, shows management's discipline in raising equity only when shares trade above book value, avoiding dilution.

The $1.5 billion share repurchase program, renewed in January 2025 through December 2029, provides a put option for the stock. While no shares were repurchased in Q3 2025, the authorization signals management's willingness to retire equity if it trades at a significant discount, creating downside protection for investors. This capital flexibility transforms Annaly from a passive vehicle into an active allocator of capital across its own shares, mortgage assets, and strategic investments.

Competitive Positioning: Scale as Moat

Annaly's $15.6 billion market capitalization and $97.8 billion portfolio dwarf direct competitors. AGNC Investment Corp., the second-largest pure-play Agency mREIT, trades at $11.3 billion with a narrower focus. This scale advantage translates into materially lower funding costs—Annaly's average repo rate improved to 4.5% in Q3 2025, while smaller peers like ARMOUR Residential REIT face higher rates and less favorable terms. The structural 10-20 basis point funding advantage flows directly to ROE.

In Agency MBS, Annaly's $87.3 billion portfolio provides negotiating power with Wall Street dealers and access to the best specified pool collateral. While AGNC reported a 10.6% economic return in Q3 2025, its pure Agency focus leaves it exposed to the next rate volatility spike. Annaly's diversified model delivered 8.1% returns with lower volatility, a trade-off that long-term investors should prefer.

The Residential Credit business faces competition from private equity funds and other REITs, but Onslow Bay's scale creates a self-reinforcing cycle. As the largest non-bank issuer, Annaly attracts the best correspondent relationships, enabling better loan selection and tighter securitization execution. Management notes that 60-65% of non-QM/DSCR production flows to entities like Annaly, while private equity competitors face fundraising cycles that create execution uncertainty. This market leadership ensures deal flow even when credit markets tighten.

In MSR, Annaly's $3.5 billion portfolio ranks among the top 20, but its 3.27% average note rate is the lowest in that peer group. This positioning minimizes refinancing risk while maximizing cash flow duration. Competitors like Rithm Capital (RITM) and Two Harbors (TWO) hold higher note rate MSR that faces greater prepayment risk if rates decline. Annaly's partnership with PennyMac provides subservicing scale and recapture capabilities that smaller portfolios cannot replicate.

Outlook and Execution: The Path Forward

Management's guidance for the remainder of 2025 is unequivocally optimistic. David Finkelstein expects "declining macro volatility, additional Fed cuts, and healthy fixed income demand" to support all three business lines. The FOMC's median forecast of two additional 25 basis point cuts in 2025, plus one per year in 2026-2027, creates a favorable backdrop. Each rate cut reduces Annaly's funding costs while the asset yields remain locked, expanding net interest spread.

For the Agency business, the combination of Fed cuts, potential GSE reform, and improved bank demand could drive further spread tightening. Management notes that overseas investor participation remains muted, providing a potential catalyst if foreign buyers return to the market. The MSR portfolio should benefit from a steeper yield curve, which increases the value of servicing cash flows while the low note rate profile limits prepayment risk.

The Residential Credit outlook depends on continued private label market growth. With non-Agency gross securitizations already reaching $160 billion year-to-date—the second-highest since 2008—Annaly is capturing share in a expanding market. The Onslow Bay platform's ability to price 24 securitizations totaling $12.4 billion through Q3 2025 demonstrates execution capacity that can scale further.

The key execution risk is maintaining credit discipline while growing volume. Management emphasizes the lock pipeline's 764 FICO and 68% LTV metrics, but the housing market faces headwinds from elevated mortgage rates and modestly negative home price appreciation. If credit losses emerge in the 2023-2024 vintages, the securitization economics could deteriorate. However, the D60+ delinquency rate of 185 basis points, down 7-8 basis points quarter-over-quarter, suggests portfolio quality remains intact.

Risks: What Could Break the Thesis

The most material risk is a resurgence of interest rate volatility. While management expects volatility to remain subdued relative to 2023-2024, the 92% hedge ratio provides only partial protection. A rapid spike in rates could cause Agency MBS spreads to widen dramatically, creating mark-to-market losses that overwhelm the earnings from Credit and MSR segments. This would test whether diversification truly provides insulation or merely masks correlated risks.

Credit risk in the Residential Credit portfolio represents a second-order concern. The portfolio's $6.9 billion economic market value is concentrated in non-QM and DSCR loans, which performed well during the post-pandemic period but remain untested in a severe recession. If unemployment rises significantly and housing prices decline more than the modest 2-3% expected, loss rates could exceed the 50 basis point serious delinquency baseline, erasing the securitization gains.

Operational risk from third-party servicers could impact the MSR portfolio. While Annaly uses licensed subservicers and maintains active oversight, a major servicer failure or regulatory action could disrupt cash flows and increase costs. The PennyMac partnership mitigates but doesn't eliminate this risk.

Finally, the dividend payout ratio of 121.68% on a TTM basis suggests the $0.70 quarterly dividend consumes more than current earnings. While EAD coverage was 104% in Q3 2025, the elevated payout ratio implies limited margin for error. If any of the three business lines underperforms, management may need to choose between dividend sustainability and balance sheet strength.

Valuation Context: The Discount on Transformation

At $22.88 per share, Annaly trades at 1.19x book value of $19.25 and 10.12x trailing earnings. This valuation reflects the market's lingering perception of NLY as a traditional mREIT rather than a diversified housing finance platform. AGNC trades at the same 1.19x price-to-book despite having no credit or MSR diversification, suggesting the market applies a one-size-fits-all multiple to the sector.

The 12.24% dividend yield, while attractive, is lower than ARMOUR Residential's 16.69% or Two Harbors' 16.00%, reflecting Annaly's superior earnings quality. The price-to-operating cash flow ratio of 5.47x compares favorably to AGNC's 18.64x, indicating that Annaly's cash generation is more sustainable and less dependent on derivative gains.

Enterprise value of $122.5 billion relative to $1.25 billion in annual revenue highlights the leveraged nature of the model, but the debt-to-equity ratio of 7.15x is actually lower than ARMOUR's 7.81x and only modestly higher than AGNC's 6.49x. The difference is that Annaly's debt funds diversified, cash-flowing assets rather than a single leveraged bond portfolio.

The valuation asymmetry is clear: if the market begins to price Annaly's diversification premium at even 1.3x book value—a modest premium to pure-play peers but discount to historical REIT averages—the stock would trade at $25 per share, representing 9% upside plus the dividend. If the diversification thesis fails and the company trades back to 0.9x book like during the 2020 rate shock, downside would be limited to $17.30 per share, a 24% decline that the dividend would partially offset over time.

Conclusion: The Diversification Premium Awaits Recognition

Annaly Capital Management has executed a structural transformation that the market has yet to fully recognize. The three-legged platform—Agency MBS for liquidity, Residential Credit for yield manufacturing, and MSR for negative convexity hedging—generates consistent economic returns through diverse rate environments, as evidenced by eight consecutive quarters of positive performance and 13% annualized returns over three years. This diversification fundamentally reduces the single-factor risk that has historically defined mortgage REITs, creating a more durable earnings stream that supports dividend coverage and book value stability.

The company's fortress balance sheet and proactive capital management provide the strategic flexibility to acquire assets on favorable terms during market dislocations, creating counter-cyclical alpha that pure-play competitors cannot replicate. While the 12.24% dividend yield and 1.19x book valuation suggest a traditional mREIT discount, the underlying earnings quality and diversification support a higher multiple as investors recognize the platform's resilience.

The investment thesis hinges on two variables: whether management can maintain credit discipline and execution velocity in the Onslow Bay platform, and whether interest rate volatility remains subdued enough for the hedging strategy to preserve book value. If both hold, Annaly's diversification premium should command a higher valuation, rewarding patient investors with both income and capital appreciation in a sector that has historically offered neither.