MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 22, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Hal Schwartz - Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary

Craig Knutson - Chief Executive Officer & President

Mike Roper - Chief Financial Officer

Gudmundur Kristjansson - Co-Chief Investment Officer

Bryan Wulfsohn - Co-Chief Investment Officer

Conference Call Participants

Doug Harter - UBS

Steve Delaney - Citizens JMP

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MFA Financial Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder today's conference is being recorded.

And I will now turn the conference over to our host Mr. Hal Schwartz. Please go ahead.

Hal Schwartz

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 MFA's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 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 fourth quarter 2023 financial results.

Thank you for your time. I would now like to turn this call over to MFA's CEO and President Craig Knutson.

Craig Knutson

Thank you, Hal. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us here today for MFA Financial's fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings call. With me today are Mike Roper, our CFO; Gudmundur Kristjansson and Bryan Wulfsohn our Co-Chief Investment Officers, and other members of our senior management team.

I'll begin with a high-level review of the fourth quarter and full year 2023 market environment and MFA's results and then discuss the current macro picture and 2024 outlook. Then I'll turn the call over to Mike to review our financial results followed by good Gudmundur and Brian who will review our portfolio, financing, and risk management before we open up the call for questions.