NMI Holdings, Inc. Reports Record First Quarter 2024 Financial Results

EMERYVILLE, Calif., April 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NMI Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMIH) today reported net income of $89.0 million, up 7% compared to $83.4 million in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023 and up 20% compared to $74.5 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. Diluted earnings per share was $1.08, up 8% compared to $1.01 in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023 and up 24% compared to $0.88 in the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. Adjusted net income was also $89.0 million, or $1.08 per diluted share, compared to $83.4 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter and $74.5 million, or $0.88 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2023.

Adam Pollitzer, President and Chief Executive Officer of National MI, said, “In the first quarter, we again delivered standout operating performance, continued growth in our high-quality insured portfolio, record profitability and strong returns. Our products and the support we provide are more important today than ever before and we’re delivering unique solutions for our customers and their borrowers. We have built an exceptionally high-quality book covered by a comprehensive set of risk transfer solutions, our credit performance continues to stand ahead, and we have a robust balance sheet supported by the significant earnings power of our platform. Looking forward, we’re well-positioned to continue delivering differentiated growth, returns and value for our shareholders.”

Selected first quarter 2024 highlights include:

• Primary insurance-in-force at quarter end was $199.4 billion, compared to $197.0 billion at the end of the fourth quarter and $186.7 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
• Net premiums earned were $136.7 million, compared to $132.9 million in the fourth quarter and $121.8 million in the first quarter of 2023.
• Total revenue was $156.3 million, compared to $151.4 million in the fourth quarter and $136.8 million in the first quarter of 2023.
• Insurance claims and claim expenses were $3.7 million, compared to $8.2 million in the fourth quarter and $6.7 million in the first quarter of 2023. Loss ratio was 2.7% compared to 6.2% in the fourth quarter and 5.5% in the first quarter of 2023.
• Underwriting and operating expenses were $29.8 million, compared to $29.7 million in the fourth quarter and $25.8 million in the first quarter of 2023. Expense ratio was 21.8% compared to 22.4% in the fourth quarter and 21.2% in the first quarter of 2023.
• Shareholders’ equity was $2.0 billion at quarter end and book value per share was $24.56. Book value per share excluding the impact of net unrealized gains and losses in the investment portfolio was $26.42, up 3% compared to $25.54 in the fourth quarter and 17% compared to $22.56 in the first quarter of 2023.
• Annualized return on equity for the quarter was 18.2%, compared to 18.0% in the fourth quarter and 17.9% in the first quarter of 2023.
• At quarter-end, total PMIERs available assets were $2.8 billion and net risk-based required assets were $1.6 billion.
  
  

Conference Call and Webcast Details

The company will hold a conference call, which will be webcast live today, April 30, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time / 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The webcast will be available on the company's website, www.nationalmi.com, in the “Investor Relations” section. The conference call can also be accessed by dialing (844) 481-2708 in the U.S., or (412) 317-0664 internationally, by referencing NMI Holdings, Inc.

About NMI Holdings, Inc.

NMI Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NMIH), is the parent company of National Mortgage Insurance Corporation (National MI), a U.S.-based, private mortgage insurance company enabling low down payment borrowers to realize home ownership while protecting lenders and investors against losses related to a borrower's default. To learn more, please visit www.nationalmi.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release or any other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company in connection therewith may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “PSLRA”). The PSLRA provides a “safe harbor” for any forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in or incorporated by reference in this release are forward-looking statements, including any statements about our expectations, outlook, beliefs, plans, predictions, forecasts, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “could,” “may,” “predict,” “assume,” “potential,” “should,” “will,” “estimate,” “perceive,” “plan,” “project,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expect,” “intend” and similar words or phrases. All forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve estimates, known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that may turn out to be inaccurate and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in them. Many risks and uncertainties are inherent in our industry and markets. Others are more specific to our business and operations. Important factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements include, but are not limited to: changes in general economic, market and political conditions and policies (including changes in interest rates and inflation) and investment results or other conditions that affect the U.S. housing market or the U.S. markets for home mortgages, mortgage insurance, reinsurance and credit risk transfer markets, including the risk related to geopolitical instability, inflation, an economic downturn (including any decline in home prices) or recession, and their impacts on our business, operations and personnel; changes in the charters, business practices, policy, pricing or priorities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively, the GSEs), which may include decisions that have the impact of decreasing or discontinuing the use of mortgage insurance as credit enhancement generally, or with first time homebuyers or on very high loan-to-value mortgages; or changes in the direction of housing policy objectives of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), such as the FHFA’s priority to increase the accessibility to and affordability of homeownership for low-and-moderate income borrowers and underrepresented communities; our ability to remain an eligible mortgage insurer under the private mortgage insurer eligibility requirements (“PMIERs”) and other requirements imposed by the GSEs, which they may change at any time; retention of our existing certificates of authority in each state and the District of Columbia (“D.C.”) and our ability to remain a mortgage insurer in good standing in each state and D.C.; our future profitability, liquidity and capital resources; actions of existing competitors, including other private mortgage insurers and government mortgage insurers such as the Federal Housing Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and potential market entry by new competitors or consolidation of existing competitors; adoption of new or changes to existing laws, rules and regulations that impact our business or financial condition directly or the mortgage insurance industry generally or their enforcement and implementation by regulators, including the implementation of the final rules defining and/or concerning “Qualified Mortgage” and “Qualified Residential Mortgage”; U.S. federal tax reform and other potential changes in tax law and their impact on us and our operations; legislative or regulatory changes to the GSEs’ role in the secondary mortgage market or other changes that could affect the residential mortgage industry generally or mortgage insurance industry in particular; potential legal and regulatory claims, investigations, actions, audits or inquiries that could result in adverse judgements, settlements, fines or other reliefs that could require significant expenditures or have other negative effects on our business; uncertainty relating to the coronavirus virus and its variants, including their impact on the global economy, the U.S. housing, real estate, housing finance and mortgage insurance markets, and our business, operations and personnel; our ability to successfully execute and implement our capital plans, including our ability to access the equity, credit and reinsurance markets and to enter into, and receive approval of, reinsurance arrangements on terms and conditions that are acceptable to us, the GSEs and our regulators; lenders, the GSEs, or other market participants seeking alternatives to private mortgage insurance; our ability to implement our business strategy, including our ability to write mortgage insurance on high quality low down payment residential mortgage loans, implement successfully and on a timely basis, complex infrastructure, systems, procedures, and internal controls to support our business and regulatory and reporting requirements of the insurance industry; our ability to attract and retain a diverse customer base, including the largest mortgage originators; failure of risk management or pricing or investment strategies; decrease in the length of time our insurance policies are in force; emergence of unexpected claim and coverage issues, including claims exceeding our reserves or amounts we had expected to experience; potential adverse impacts arising from natural disasters including, with respect to affected areas, a decline in new business, adverse effects on home prices, and an increase in notices of default on insured mortgages; climate risk and efforts to manage or regulate climate risk by government agencies could affect our business and operations; potential adverse impacts arising from the occurrence of any man-made disasters or public health emergencies, including pandemics; the inability of our counter-parties, including third party reinsurers, to meet their obligations to us; failure to maintain, improve and continue to develop necessary information technology systems or the failure of technology providers to perform; effectiveness and security of our information technology systems and digital products and services, including the risks these systems, products or services may fail to operate as expected or planned, or expose us to cybersecurity or third-party risks (including the exposure of our confidential customer and other information); and ability to recruit, train and retain key personnel. These risks and uncertainties also include, but are not limited to, those set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” detailed in Item 1A of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as subsequently updated through other reports we file with the SEC. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement, which speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect new information, future events or circumstances that occur after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events except as required by law.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We believe the use of the non-GAAP measures of adjusted income before tax, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted EPS, adjusted return-on-equity, adjusted expense ratio, adjusted combined ratio and book value per share (excluding net unrealized gains and losses) enhances the comparability of our fundamental financial performance between periods, and provides relevant information to investors. These non-GAAP financial measures align with the way the company's business performance is evaluated by management. These measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP and should not be viewed as alternatives to GAAP measures of performance. These measures have been presented to increase transparency and enhance the comparability of our fundamental operating trends across periods. Other companies may calculate these measures differently; their measures may not be comparable to those we calculate and present.

Adjusted income before tax is defined as GAAP income before tax, excluding the pre-tax effects of net realized gains or losses from our investment portfolio, periodic costs incurred in connection with capital markets transactions, and other infrequent, unusual or non-operating items in the periods in which such items are incurred.

Adjusted net income is defined as GAAP net income, excluding the after-tax effects of net realized gains or losses from our investment portfolio, periodic costs incurred in connection with capital markets transactions, and other infrequent, unusual or non-operating items in the periods in which such items are incurred. Adjustments to components of pre-tax income are tax effected using the applicable federal statutory tax rate for the respective periods.

Adjusted diluted EPS is defined as adjusted net income divided by adjusted weighted average diluted shares outstanding. Adjusted weighted average diluted shares outstanding is defined as weighted average diluted shares outstanding, adjusted for changes in the dilutive effect of non-vested shares that would otherwise have occurred had GAAP net income been calculated in accordance with adjusted net income. There will be no adjustment to weighted average diluted shares outstanding in the periods that non-vested shares are anti-dilutive under GAAP.

Adjusted return on equity is calculated by dividing adjusted net income on an annualized basis by the average shareholders' equity for the period.

Adjusted expense ratio is defined as GAAP underwriting and operating expenses, excluding the pre-tax effects of periodic costs incurred in connection with capital markets transactions, divided by net premiums earned.

Adjusted combined ratio is defined as the total of GAAP underwriting and operating expenses, excluding the pre-tax effects of periodic costs incurred in connection with capital markets transactions and insurance claims and claims expenses, divided by net premiums earned.

Book value per share (excluding net unrealized gains and losses) is defined as total shareholder's equity, excluding the after-tax effects of unrealized gains and losses on investments, divided by shares outstanding.

Although adjusted income before tax, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted EPS, adjusted return-on-equity, adjusted expense ratio, adjusted combined ratio and book value per share (excluding net unrealized gains and losses) exclude certain items that have occurred in the past and are expected to occur in the future, the excluded items: (1) are not viewed as part of the operating performance of our primary activities; or (2) are impacted by market, economic or regulatory factors and are not necessarily indicative of operating trends, or both. These adjustments, and the reasons for their treatment, are described below.

Investor Contact
John M. Swenson
Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury
john.swenson@nationalmi.com 
(510) 788-8417

Portfolio Statistics

The table below highlights trends in our primary portfolio as of the date and for the periods indicated.

NIW, IIF and Premiums

The tables below present primary NIW and primary and pool IIF, as of the dates and for the periods indicated.

The following table presents the amounts related to the company's quota-share reinsurance transactions (the 2016 QSR Transaction, 2018 QSR Transaction, 2020 QSR Transaction, 2021 QSR Transaction, 2022 QSR Transaction, 2022 Seasoned QSR Transaction, 2023 QSR Transaction, and 2024 QSR Transaction and collectively, the QSR Transactions), insurance-linked note transactions (2019 ILN Transaction, 2020-2 ILN Transaction, 2021-1 ILN Transaction, and 2021-2 ILN Transaction and collectively, the ILN Transactions), and traditional reinsurance transactions (2022-1 XOL Transaction, 2022-2 XOL Transaction, 2022-3 XOL Transaction, 2023-1 XOL Transaction, 2023-2 XOL Transaction, and 2024 XOL Transaction and collectively, the XOL Transactions) for the periods indicated.

The tables below present our total primary NIW by FICO, loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, and purchase/refinance mix for the periods indicated.

The table below presents a summary of our primary IIF and RIF by book year as of March 31, 2024.

The tables below present our total primary IIF and RIF by FICO and LTV, and total primary RIF by loan type as of the dates indicated.

The table below presents a summary of the change in total primary IIF for the dates and periods indicated.

Geographic Dispersion

The following table shows the distribution by state of our primary RIF as of the periods indicated.

The table below presents selected primary portfolio statistics, by book year, as of March 31, 2024.

The following table provides a reconciliation of the beginning and ending reserve balances for primary insurance claims and claim expenses:

The following table provides a reconciliation of the beginning and ending count of loans in default:

The following table provides details of our claims paid, before giving effect to claims ceded under the QSR Transactions, for the periods indicated:

The following table shows our average reserve per default, before giving effect to reserves ceded under the QSR Transactions, as of the dates indicated:

The following table provides a comparison of the PMIERs available assets and net risk-based required asset amount as reported by NMIC as of the dates indicated: