loanDepot, Inc.

Good morning and welcome everyone to Loan Depot's first quarter conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. If you would like to ask a question during the call, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press the pound key. I would now like to turn the call over to Nicole Cario, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining our call. Today we will discuss Loan Depot's first quarter results. We are excited to share the financial information and other highlights of our quarter with you. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call may include forward-looking statements regarding the company's operating and financial performance in future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and available information. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those forward-looking statements due to risk factors that are described in the risk factor section of our filings with the SEC. On today's call, we have Loan Depot founder, chairman, and CEO Anthony Shea and our Chief Financial Officer Pat Flanagan to provide an overview of our quarter as well as our financial and operational results and to answer your questions. We are also joined by our Chief Capital Markets Officer, Jeff DeGurian, our Chief Analytics Officer, John Lee, and our Chief Revenue Officer, Jeff Walsh, to help address any questions you might have after our prepared remarks. And with that, I'll turn things over to Anthony to get us started. Anthony?

Thank you, Nicole, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin by highlighting aspects of our results from this past quarter. And then I will address the evolving market conditions we are seeing across the mortgage industry more broadly and how Loan Depot is uniquely positioned to thrive. This quarter, we reported record loan originations of $41.5 billion and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.98 per share. This was driven by an 11% increase in quarterly originations across our retail and partner channels, reflecting the diversification in our strategy and strong consumer recognition of our brand. And another signal of the overall strength of our business and performance and our commitment to our shareholders, we recently announced a special dividend of $0.61 per share. Our continued success is due to the innovative and purposeful way in which we built our company. thanks to our direct-to-consumer and market retail and partnership channels. We are able to serve customers where and how they want to be served. And importantly, because of our unique at-scale model and the balance and diversification it offers, we are known to be incredibly nimble and strategic. We are well-positioned, able to add new products and services and consider acquisitions no matter the market environment. We are also known for our track record of creating strategically beneficial joint ventures. And Q1 was no exception. Recently, we entered into a partnership with Shell Brothers, a premier builder of energy-efficient homes in Delaware and Virginia. This new joint venture, named Hamilton Mortgage, pairs Shell Brothers' innovative, highly personalized home options with Lone Depot's highly efficient, robust lending platform. Powered by our proprietary metal technology, ensure customers' experiences are seamless and rewarding. We take our responsibility to customers very seriously, which is why our mellow technology and data enrichment capabilities help set us apart. Thanks to our proprietary tech innovations and our unique approach to data, we are able to quickly match our customers with the right loan officer and the right product at the right price and right time, ensuring our customers are being served how they wish to be. This customer-centric approach and technology-driven mindset has been honed over the past 11 years and has allowed our brand to become one of the most recognized in the industry today. Loan Depot delivers on the promise I mentioned a few months ago, the promise of an extremely satisfying loan experience. Our net promoter score remains well above the industry average and on par with nationally recognized best-in-class consumer technology goods and service providers. and that's something we are extremely proud of. Our brand is special, and we consider it to be one of our company's most valuable and differentiated assets. This quarter, we initiated national partnerships with Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins. It was an exciting quarter for us, to say the least. Zone Depot became the presenting sponsor of the American and National League Championship Series in the 80s. official mortgage provider for both Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins. We also availed Lone Depot Park, the home of the Miami Marlins and world-class special events. In addition, we believe our position as the second most recognized mortgage brand grew even stronger this quarter through our ongoing national television ad campaign, which has delivered more than 12 billion household impressions since its launch in 2020. Our extensive data analytics allows us to capitalize on the 1.8 million average monthly website visits and 582 million online media exposures during the first quarter of 2021. At Loan Depot, we measure engagement in multiple ways. Of course, engagement is an important marketing metric. But for us, engagement as a team and engagement within our communities is also extremely important. It's one of the reasons we are so passionate about contributing to the local communities where our team members and customers live and work. This quarter, we announced several key initiatives that exemplify our strong commitment to communities nationwide, including the Home Means Everything Major League Baseball campaign, whereby lone people would donate $25 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for each RBI during the 2021 regular season. We expect that this will generate a donation of more than $500,000 to an organization that does a tremendous amount of good for children, families, and communities nationwide. Pivoting from our strong Q1 results, I'd like to spend some time addressing the recent shifts in the mortgage market and further outline why we are confident and well-positioned to further grow and succeed in any mortgage environment. Across the country, the first quarter was marked by rising interest rates, as well as the continuing slowdown in refinance volumes. Interest rates began to rise in late Q1, and there has been a corresponding reduction in market opportunities and gain on sale margins as a result. While we anticipated the rise in interest rates, the shift began earlier in 2021 than generally expected. Competitive pricing strategy pressure from other market participants also had a market-wide impact on margins. And finally, we continue to see strong demand for purchase transactions fueled by interest rates that, while rising, remain at historically low levels, coupled with continued constraints on supply. Though people differentiate a model and diversify offerings built exactly for these shifting market conditions, For more than 11 years, we have helped customers achieve their home purchase and refinancing goals with solutions that fit their needs. Our suite of products and services and powerful data and analytics capabilities are intentionally constructed to account for changes to the market environment. Our dual focus on our retail and partner strategies enables us to raise awareness and generate leads, broadening our top-of-the-funnel consumer reach. These strategies position us to thrive despite changing rate cycles. This is exemplified by our industry-leading organic recapture rate that grew to 72% during the first quarter, demonstrating that we have the right product for our customers that are able to offer it to them at the right time because of our powerful data and analytics. Our technology-enabled platform allows us to scale our operations for changes in volume in a highly efficient manner. This platform, coupled with our continuous focus on expenses, means we can continue to deliver value while adjusting to a changing market. And through our multiple sources of liquidity, including loan funding warehouse facilities and the SAR facilities, off-balance CHS station facilities, mellow securitizations, and cash on hand, we have established a sophisticated, flexible financing approach that allows the company to fund its own origination business and protect against foreseeable market risk. We are well positioned to capitalize on what we believe will be a period of consolidation in the market, and we have the capability to efficiently integrate teams and build on our existing business momentum. I'd now like to turn things over to our CFO, Pat Flanagan, who will take you through our financial results in more detail.