Orchid Island Capital, Inc. (NYSE:ORC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Hunter Haas: Yes. It was very disappointing third quarter. We were – we leaned into the basis a little bit towards the end of the second quarter when spreads were sort of at their wides during the second quarter in the wake of the regional bank crisis. Those lists went off so incredibly well and so much faster than we expected. There was definitely a more positive farmer tone. But as you alluded to, the money managers quickly got overweight. And quantitative tightening continued. And as rates just grinded higher, there was really that lack of marginal buyer. So optimistic, I guess, that you’ve seen some signs of life from the banking sector. I don’t think they’re quite ready to come in, in full force. But there was a couple of reports out in the last couple of weeks about banks being able to unload some of their lower coupon assets and supplement their income with some better earning potential in higher coupon mortgage space.

So it’s not anywhere near them becoming the marginal buyer, but it’s certainly starting to see some signs of life. So it will probably be grind for the next couple of quarters and will be volatile. But we’re also having those days when we see just the slightest glimmer of hope in mortgage spread space really brings in an influx of participants. And so the basis is incredibly volatile, but on those days when it’s green and it’s very green. So that’s been a little bit of a welcome change over the past four to five weeks that we’ve really just seen show up in the last handful of days.

Matthew Erdner: That’s helpful. Thanks for the color guys.

Robert Cauley: All right. You’re welcome.

Operator: Your next question is from Chris Nolan of Ladenburg Thalman. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Christopher Nolan: Hi guys. Bob, have you guys received any margin calls on your repo funding this quarter?

Robert Cauley: This morning? We get them every day. I mean we – margin call activity is very robust. We get calls both on the hedges and on the assets every day. We’ve internalized that. We used to outsource that to AVM. We hired Pat Doyle from AVM, and we brought in our own systems. And so now we can manage that whole process entirely on our own. And yes, I mean the margin call activity keeps Pat busy several hours a day in and out. So absolutely.

Christopher Nolan: Thank you. And then also a follow-up. What sort of flexibility do you have on the dividend? Because I know you need to distribute so now taxable income. But given all the moving pieces here, what sort of flexibility do you think you might see on how you reinvest the dividend you used to do that.

Robert Cauley: We brought it down into kind of line with what we were earning. We were under earning over distributing, thinking that the market was going to turn and we didn’t want to take the steps to reposition the portfolio. But we had to adjust some and we did. But that 12% seems fairly well reasonable. I mean the big picture view on the dividend, trust, we’ve spent hours discussing this. The market does tend to punish you if you change it too often, and they also punish you if you over distribute too much and the tax laws keep you from under-distributing. So – and we track our taxable earnings. We have a pretty good sense generally as we go throughout the year where we are in terms of overdistribution. There is some latitude, but it’s not boundless.

Christopher Nolan: Great. Thank you.

Operator: Your next question is from Mikhail Goberman of JMP Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Mikhail Goberman: Hi, guys. Good morning. I hope everybody’s known well. Could you guys give an update on where book value stands right now? And also, I believe you mentioned economic leverage is down to 7.4% now from 8.5%, is that right?