Essent Group Ltd.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Abby and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Essent Group Limited first 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 this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. And I would now like to turn the conference over to Phil Stefano, 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 Essent Guarantee. Our press release, which contains Essent's financial results for the first quarter of 2026, was issued earlier today and is available on our website at SNGroup.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, filed with the SEC on February 18, 2026, 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 first quarter 2026 financial results, which continue to benefit from favorable credit performance and the impact of interest rates on both persistency and investment income. Our core MI business continues to generate strong cash flow, supporting a balanced approach to capital allocation that funds growth opportunities across our franchise and returns capital to shareholders. For the first quarter of 2026, we reported net income of $172 million, or $1.82 per diluted share. On an annualized basis, our return on average equity was 12% year-to-date through the first quarter. As of March 31st, our book value per share was $61.20, an increase of 11% from a year ago. Our outlook on housing is that it remains in a pause as affordability and higher rates continue to temper purchase and refinance originations. However, we believe that favorable demographics, supply constraints, and increasing pent-up demand will be positive for housing and our MI business when affordability improves. As of March 31st, our mortgage insurance in force was $248 billion, a 1% increase versus a year ago. Twelve-month persistency was 84.7%, reflecting the ongoing impact of the rate environment. Nearly 50% of our in-force portfolio carries a note rate of 5.5% or lower, a dynamic that we believe will support persistency at elevated levels. credit quality of our insurance and force remains strong with a weighted average FICO of 747 and a weighted average original LTV of 93%. Our portfolio default rate was effectively flat quarter over quarter and we continue to believe that the embedded home equity of our in-force book should mitigate ultimate claims. Outward reinsurance in our MI business continues to play an integral role in managing credit risk and capital. During the first quarter of 2026, we entered into an excess of loss transaction with a panel of highly rated reinsurers providing forward protection for our 2027 business. We remain pleased with the execution of our reinsurance strategy, seeding a meaningful portion of our mezzanine credit risk and diversifying our capital sources. On the title front, we continue to transition the business from a standalone operation to an adjacency of our mortgage insurance franchise by leveraging our customer base and providing title solutions. The coordination between our MI and title teams continues to build momentum in expanding the number of S&T title customers, but we know this business is rate sensitive and results will continue to improve as origination volumes recover. On the S&RE front, we expanded our P&C reinsurance platform in the first quarter. Our Lloyds program will generate approximately $120 million of written premium in 2026 against a $50 million deposit at returns comparable to our MI business. During the first quarter, we also executed a whole-account quota share covering a season's casualty and specialty book, which will generate approximately $200 million of written premium in 2026. Combined, we expect that the near-term earnings impact will be immaterial, while over the longer term, growing income and the capital benefits of rating agency diversification will be key drivers in generating shareholder value. Our consolidated cash and investments as of March 31st totaled $6.6 billion, with an annualized aggregate yield for the first quarter of 4.2%. New money yields on our core portfolio in the first quarter were 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 $1.1 billion in excess of loss-free insurance, and $1.1 billion in cash and investments at the holding companies. With a trailing 12-month operating cash flow of $827 million, Our franchise remains well-positioned from an earnings, cash flow, and balance sheet perspective. We remain committed to a measured and diversified capital strategy that looks to optimize shareholder returns over the long term, while preserving optionality for strategic growth opportunities. With that in mind, year-to-date through April 30th, we repurchased approximately 3.5 million shares for over $200 million. Furthermore, I'm pleased to announce that our board has approved a common dividend of $0.35 for the second quarter of 2026. Now let me turn the call over to Dave.