MFA Financial, Inc.

Welcome to the MFA Financial, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Hal Schwartz, General Counsel at MFA Financial. Thank you. Hal, you may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. The information discussed on this conference call today may contain or refer to forward-looking statements regarding MFA Financial, Inc., which reflect management's beliefs, expectations, and assumptions as to MFA's future performance and operations. When used, Statements that are not historical in nature, including those containing words such as will, believe, expect, anticipate, estimate, should, could, would, or similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. These types of statements are subject to various known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors, including those described in the MFA's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and other reports that it may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause MFA's actual results to differ materially from those projected, expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements it makes. For additional information regarding MFA's use of forward-looking statements, please see the relevant disclosure in the press release announcing MFA's second quarter 2026 financial results. Thank you for your time. I would now like to turn this call over to MFA CEO Craig Knutson.

Thank you, Hal. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for MFA Financial's second quarter 2026 earnings call. With me today are Bryan Wulfsohn, our president and chief investment officer, Mike Roper, our chief financial officer, and other members of our senior management team. I will offer some general remarks on the macroeconomic and political landscapes and we'll then provide an update on MFA's business initiatives and portfolio activities. I'll then turn the call over to Mike followed by Bryan before we open up the call for questions. Moving to market conditions. We entered April with markets still absorbing the geopolitical shock that ended the first quarter. After ending March at $118 per barrel, oil traded below $100 per barrel for much of April before spiking back to $118 at the end of April and then trading lower over the last two months of the quarter, closing out just below $73 per barrel at the end of June. In the rates market, while volatility dampened considerably, rates themselves rose modestly higher during the quarter. The move index closed out the first quarter around 100, but was in the mid-60s by the middle of April, spiked briefly in mid-May and then closed the quarter in the low 70s. The curve flattened materially during the quarter, Two-year Treasury yields rose 40 basis points and 10 years sold off about 15 basis points, with the 210 spread flattening from 52 to 29 basis points. Kevin Walsh chaired his first set of FOMC meetings in mid-June, and his tone at the press conference was more hawkish than many had expected. Inflation data remains elevated, payroll numbers continue to be strong, and markets are now expecting a Fed funds increase later this year. The mortgage market remained constructive through the second quarter, with spreads tightening modestly and securitization markets were well bid. Obviously, Kevin Walsh's second press conference last week did not go as well as his first, but I personally think the financial press was more upset than the markets. I remember when Alan Greenspan was the Fed chair, and he elevated Fed speak to a unique level of incomprehensibility. Through the second quarter market volatility, MFA delivered a solid quarter and made real progress on the strategic initiatives we laid out for you late last year. Economic book value was essentially unchanged. We again declared a 36-cent dividend, and we generated a total economic return of positive 2.6 for the quarter. First, we continued to prudently deploy capital and grow the balance sheet. Our investment portfolio ended the quarter at approximately $13 billion up from $12.5 at March 31 and roughly 20% larger than a year ago with growth concentrated in agency MBS at what we believe remain attractive spreads. Second, and this was the defining effort of the quarter, we significantly accelerated the resolution of delinquent assets. We resolved approximately $200 million of previously delinquent loans during the quarter and our 60 plus day delinquency rate declined from 7.8% to 7.0%. Mike will walk through how these resolutions flow through our earnings metrics and Bryan will provide more detail on the progress. But the headline is simple. We are converting unproductive assets back into earning capital and we're doing it faster. Thirdly, Lima's momentum continued to build with origination volume up nearly 45% from the first quarter. The efforts expended throughout much of last year to improve technology and add salespeople are beginning to pay off. Fourth, we completed the exit of our former corporate headquarters and continue to bring down our expense base. Mike will quantify the run rate savings for you. And finally, we continue to repurchase common stock at a significant discount to economic book value, buying back over 500,000 shares during the quarter. funded largely by issuance of preferred stock through our ATM program. Taken together, a stable book value, a growing portfolio, a shrinking problem asset book, and a reacceleration of origination franchise, and a leaner expense base. We believe the earnings power of this portfolio is becoming increasingly visible as the legacy credit noise recedes. I'd like to turn the call over to Mike now to discuss our financial results.