Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 10, 2023 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Phil Stefano - Vice President-Investor Relations

Mark Casale - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Dave Weinstock - Interim Chief Financial Officer

Chris Curran - President-Essent Guaranty

Conference Call Participants

Mark DeVries - Barclays

Rick Shane - JPMorgan

Mihir Bhatia - Bank of America

Bose George - Keefe, Bruyette, &Woods

Geoffrey Dunn - Dowling & Partners

Operator

Good morning, my name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Essent Group Fourth Quarter and Year-End Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question and answer session. [Operator Instructions]

Thank you. Phil Stefano, Vice President, Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

Phil Stefano

Thank you, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our call. Joining me today are Mark Casale, Chairman and CEO; and David Weinstock, Interim Chief Financial Officer. Also on hand for the Q&A portion of the call is Chris Curran, President of Essent Guaranty.

Our press release, which contains Essent's financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022 was issued earlier today and is available on our website at essentgroup.com.

Prior to getting started, I would like to remind participants that today's discussions are being recorded and will include the use of forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please review the cautionary language regarding forward-looking statements in today's press release, the risk factors included in our Form10-K filed with the SEC on February 16, 2022, and any other reports and registration statements filed with the SEC, which are also available on our website.

Now let me turn the call over to Mark.

Mark Casale

Thanks, Phil, and good morning, everyone. Earlier today, we released our fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results. Our strong performance, which reflects the earnings power of our business benefited from better-than-expected credit performance, along with increased persistency and investment income as a result of higher rates. These results demonstrate the strength of our economic engine in generating high-quality earnings.

Heading into 2023, we remain confident in our buy, manage and distribute operating model despite some economic uncertainty. While our franchise is levered to the economy in housing, we continue to manage the business considering a range of scenarios.