Redwood Trust, Inc. (NYSE:RWT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Christopher Abate: Yes, again, we can speak to both businesses. On the resi side, I think the way, what we’ve most focused on is clearing out some of the 2022 inventory. And we were very fortunate to stay on top of it. And not be a forced issuer, if you will, as others were we took a year off, essentially, between securitizations. When the moment was right, we were able to hit the market pretty quickly. And we did a few weeks ago, that spoke for a substantial amount of our inventory. And as we’ve mentioned, we’re hoping to do another deal here in the coming weeks or months. But going forward, I think, you know, capital turnover is going to be important because of the shape of the yield curve. So, pricing in a healthy margin, and as far as the rate sheet goes, it’s going to be important just to factor in the extra hedging costs.

So focusing on quote, unquote, mini bulk and in selling loans, as smaller bulk pools to investors is going to be an emphasis of ours. So I think there’s, there’s ways to manage it, but ultimately, we’d really like to do is get back to kind of the regular way, aggregation, that we’ve seen the past few years, we’re just proceeding cautiously.

Doug Harter: And then can you just talk about kind of how you envision your capital structure? Obviously, have the converts coming through this year issued the prefer kind of what you see the optimal mix of the capital structure?

Brooke Carillo: Thanks Doug. It’s a good question. We probably thought from our materials that through the first quarter in the fourth quarter. We bought back about 55 million of our 23s and 25s. Since we started buying back our converts, we’ve actually seen our capital structure tightening quite nicely, which I think was also aided by our preferred equity offering that price inside our convertible debt stack as well. I think we did a small inaugural issuance of preferred intentionally, and it is expensive, but relative to the cost of convertible and other unsecured forms of debt. We think they’re perpetual capital that actually has a nice place in our capital structure and our future issuance, we expect to be tighter on the on the follow of that.

So we and you also probably noted from our materials and prepared remarks that we have done a nice job continuing to raise cash on hand, as we are set with 400 million, we have 300 million in total unsecured that matures through 2024. So, we will likely see us continue to either repurchase at a discount or to cease it. If you even think about the level of costs that we have in our 2023 maturities. You can cover that interest expense with six months teasels today, which is quite amazing. So, I think we will continue to address our term maturities while balancing it nicely with other accreted forms of capital in the capital structure.

Operator: And our next question comes from Don Fandetti with Wells Fargo. Please state your question.

Don Fandetti: Brooke, could you talk a little bit about how you’re thinking about net interest income in Q1? And then maybe some of the pluses and minuses as you work through the year?