Dynex Capital, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the Dynx Capital, Inc. Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Ms. Caitlin Moritz, Head of Capital Markets and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and thank you to everyone joining us today for Dynex's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me on today's call are Smriti Popenoe, Co-Chief Executive Officer and President, Byron Boston, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Mike Sartori, Chief Financial Officer, and TJ Connelly, Chief Investment Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. For additional information regarding these risks and factors, Please refer to our filings with the SEC available in the investor section of our website and on the SEC's website. Dynex undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Our earnings press release was issued and filed with the SEC earlier today and is available in the investor section of our website at dynexcapital.com as well as on the SEC's website. We may also reference our earnings presentation during today's call, which is available on our investors page. With that, I'll turn the call over to Smriti for opening remarks.

Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report a strong performance quarter for Dynex. Our total economic return of 6.4% was achieved alongside healthy capital issuance of nearly $400 million for the quarter. In the first six months of the year, the capital base increased to $3.1 billion from $2.4 billion at year end, and we grew our portfolio of agency MBS by over 40%. We are progressing well on our path. Delivering consistent dividend income for our shareholders while building scale and resilience. Since 2022, we have expanded our capital base by five times and continue to see a significant opportunity to thoughtfully build the company from here. We are executing our strategy for a more durable mortgage investment platform with a valuation that is consistent with our strong track record, increasing relevance and scale. I want to give some context for our strategic thinking. First, why agency MBS? Our conviction in agency MBS as the core of our strategy is high. Agency MBS are among the most liquid and cycle-tested asset classes with a demonstrated ability to withstand periods of market stress over the past 40 years. In the last decade, our macro opinion led us to focus more on liquidity and flexibility. We therefore allocated most of our capital to the agency sector. The compelling return, liquidity, and flexibility of this asset class are unmatched. It drove our outperformance in 2020, as well as in the Fed hiking cycle of 2022 to 2025. In our view, agency MBS remains the best risk-reward across our investment universe for this macro environment. Hence, our approach is to invest in agency MBS while building the capital base and strengthening the operating platform. Second, what is the imperative to grow and scale? The reasons are twofold. The most straightforward relevant reason is valuation. Larger companies often regardless of delivered performance typically earn a better valuation metric. This is further bolstered by the popularity of passive investing. As passive funds receive more cash, they allocate based on size to larger companies. and in our view, this provides a structural tailwind for the expansion of Dynex. By delivering both performance and size, we believe we can garner higher valuations for our business and ultimately bring greater value to our shareholders. The other component driving our strategic thinking is risk management. As a macro-focused investor, we continuously evaluate global trends. We currently see increased risks related to both geopolitical conflict and technological change. reinforcing our focus on continuing to build resilience across our business and operations. While we cannot predict the ultimate impact of AI, we are preparing by investing in people and technology and strengthening the processes that protect capital, sustain performance and create long-term shareholder value. The goal is to drive robust, reliable, repeatable and resilient processes that can withstand both market and operating shocks. So where we are now is that the conditions for us to execute on growing the company, building resilience and scale are very favorable, and they're creating a virtuous flywheel. By capitalizing on the investment opportunity in agency MBS, we generate performance that attracts investors and supports valuation. This enables accretive capital raising, which in turn is invested in high-quality assets. And as each turn goes through, the liquidity, visibility, and valuation has improved, a reinforcing dynamic that we believe will continue. This is the pathway to scale, resilience, and ultimately the premium valuation deserved by our track record and durable platform. I'll now turn it over to Mike and TJ to provide the details on the quarter and the outlook.