Essent Group Ltd.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Abby and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Essent Group Limited third quarter earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one a second time. Thank you. And I would now like to turn the conference over to Phil Stefano with Investor Relations. You may begin.

Thank you, Abby. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our call. Joining me today are Mark Casale, Chairman and CEO, and David Weinstock, Chief Financial Officer. Also on hand for the Q&A portion of the call is Chris Curran, President of SM Guarantee. Our press release, which contains ESSEN's financial results for the third quarter of 2025, was issued earlier today and is available on our website at essengroup.com. Prior to getting started, I would like to remind participants that today's discussions are being recorded and will include the use of forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially. For discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please review the cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements in today's press release, the risk factors included in our Form 10-K, followed with the SEC on February 19, 2025, and any other reports and registration statements filed with the SEC, which are also available on our website. Now, let me turn the call over to Mark.

Thanks, Phil, and good morning, everyone. Earlier today, we released our third quarter 2025 financial results. Our performance this quarter again underscores the resilience of our business as we continue to benefit from favorable credit trends and the interest rate environment, which remains a tailwind for both persistency and investment income. These results reflect the strength of our buy, manage, and distribute operating model, which we believe is well-suited to navigate a range of macroeconomic scenarios and generate high-quality earnings. For the third quarter of 2025, we reported net income of $164 million compared to $176 million a year ago. On a diluted per share basis, we earned $1.67 for the third quarter compared to $1.65 a year ago. On an annualized basis, our year-to-date return on equity was 13% through the third quarter. As of September 30th, our U.S. mortgage insurance and force was $249 billion, a 2% increase versus a year ago. Our 12-month persistency on September 30th was 86%, flat from last quarter, while nearly half of our in-force portfolio has a note rate of 5% or lower. We continue to expect that the current level of mortgage rates will support elevated persistency in the near term. The credit quality of our insurance in-force remains strong, with a weighted average FICO of 746 and a weighted average original LTV of 93%. Our portfolio default rate increased modestly from the second quarter of 2025, reflecting the normal seasonality of the mortgage insurance business. Meanwhile, we continue to believe that the substantial home equity embedded in our in-force book should mitigate ultimate claims. Our consolidated cash and investments as of September 30th totaled $6.6 billion, with an annualized investment yield in the third quarter of 3.9%. Our new money yield in the third quarter was nearly 5%, holding largely stable over the past several quarters. We continue to operate from a position of strength with $5.7 billion in gap equity, access to $1.4 billion in excess of loss reinsurance, and $1 billion in cash and investments at the holding companies. With a 12-month operating cash flow of $854 million through the third quarter, our franchise remains well-positioned from an earnings, cash flow and balance sheet perspective. We remain committed to a prudent and conservative capital strategy that allows us to maintain a strong balance sheet to navigate market volatility while preserving the flexibility to invest in strategic growth. Thanks to our robust capital position and strengthened earnings, we are well positioned to actively return capital to shareholders in a value of creative fashion. With that in mind, year to date through October 31st, we have repurchased nearly 9 million shares for over $500 million. At the same time, I am pleased to announce that our board has approved a common dividend of 31 cents for the fourth quarter of 2025 and a new $500 million share repurchase authorization that runs through year-end 2027. Now, let me turn the call over to Dave.